Multinational telecommunications investment holding company SoftBank has announced plans to develop a new data center in Hokkaido, Japan.
The center, which will be located in Tomakomai City, will be the result of an investment of 40-60 billion yen (US $266-400 million), in a bid to develop one of Japan’s largest data centers. The company operates 13 data center facilities in Japan; four of which are located in Tokyo, three each in Osaka and Kitakyushu and one in Oita, Fukushima and Sapporo.
With plans to launch in 2026, specifications are otherwise limited. The new facility plans to reduce pressures on increased energy consumption as generative AI continues to grow in prevalence and demand. Subsidies of up to half of the project’s total costs have been requested through an application to the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry.
Currently, SoftBank provides colocation and hosting services, as well as services through its IDC Frontier subsidiary. SoftBank’s subsidiary runs a number of centers in Japan, such as the 50 mW Tokyo Fuchu center which can support in the region of 4000 server racks. It is also the owner of dark fiber company BB Backbone, as well as BBIX.
