Softbank marches ahead of its ambitions to build key AI businesses in its home market in Japan, its own steam, and strategic partnerships with others like Openai. On Friday, the tech company confirmed that LCD panels would be constructed in a factory previously used by Sharp and converted them to artificial intelligence data centers.
Sharp Bank’s sales agreement with Sharp includes both the land and buildings of Sharp Sakai Plant in Osaka, and includes a price of 100 million yen ($676 million).
This was an early step needed for SoftBank, as data centers are the lynchpin of a massive wave of generation AI that wipes out the world of technology. A significant amount of data center capacity is required to train the model and provide and execute subsequent services.
A SoftBank spokesperson pointed out to TechCrunch a previous announcement to deploy Advanced Enterprise AI called Japan’s “Cristal Intelligence.” When contacted for a response, Openai declined to comment on the news.
Openai plans to bring the basic AI model to the Japanese market and develop the model at the Sakai plant using GPUs. SB Openai Japan, a joint venture between Softbank and Openai, trains models using client data from marketing and other activities. According to a Nikkei report, JVs sell customized AI agents to clients.
The data center plan highlights SoftBank and Openai’s growing scope of collaboration.
The two high-tech companies have announced a joint venture in Japan to build several AI data centers in the US with SoftBank, Oracle and other companies, and to build several AI data centers in the US by Telco Giant in Japan, which Japan has invested in Openai. The talk has been ongoing for several months, with the latest reportedly SoftBank investing in $25 billion in Openai at a valuation of nearly $300 billion. However, the funding has not yet been closed and has not been officially announced.
The SoftBank plant purchase takes place approximately 10 months after signing the MOU and will build a large AI data center in Sharp, which was previously used for LCD panel production.
SoftBank aims to begin operation in 2026. SoftBank expects the LCD Panel Factory to have enough capacity to operate the AI data center. It starts at about 150 megawatts, and ultimately increases to over 240 megawatts.
Sakai facility will be SoftBank’s third data center. It already operates a data center in Tokyo, and another data center is being built in Hokkaido.
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