Japan to invest $60 billion in AI data centre expansion

Japan has taken an initiative to rapidly expand its data centre infrastructure to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The country plans to more than quadruple the number of AI data centres over the next eight years. If successful, this initiative could position Japan as one of the world's strongest players in AI infrastructure capacity, after the United States and China, according to a report by Nikkei Asia.

A survey conducted on 26 data centre operating companies found that 22 of them are preparing to build new AI data centres in Japan. As AI model training and operation require vast amounts of computing power, the demand for data centres in the country's technology sector is rising rapidly.

According to research firm Kushman & Wakefield, building a one-gigawatt data centre costs an average of approximately $16 billion. Based on that calculation, the planned new infrastructure in Japan may require an investment of about $60 billion. However, when factoring in the cost of high-performance servers, advanced semiconductors and other processing equipment, the total investment amount would increase significantly.

Meanwhile, the demand for electricity and computing capacity is also rising in line with the growth in AI technology usage. According to a forecast by Japanese technology firm SoftBank, the country will need approximately 4.2 gigawatts of data centre capacity by 2030 to meet the demands of its AI sector.

In light of this demand, major Japanese technology firm NTT Group has stepped forward to expand its infrastructure. The company has set a target to increase its data centre capacity to 2 gigawatts by 2033. At the same time, SoftBank is also planning to rapidly expand capacity. The company is aiming to increase its data centre capacity nearly fourfold to 255 megawatts by 2027.

The global race to strengthen computing infrastructure is intensifying in line with the spread of AI technology. Japan's recent initiative could strengthen the country's position in that race while opening the way for major investments in AI development, cloud computing and advanced technology sectors.