CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI), a global real asset manager, has acquired a freehold land parcel in Osaka, Japan, to develop its first data centre in the country. This will entail a total investment of more than US$ 700 million. 50 MW of power capacity has also been secured for the project.
With this latest acquisition, CLI has added 23 data centres to its global portfolio since 2021. CapitaLand Group has 27 data centres across Asia and Europe totalling to about 800 MW of power capacity.
“Japan is a Tier 1 data centre market poised for tremendous growth. It is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent, from US$ 23.8 billion in 2023 to US$ 38.7 billion in 2028. It is also Asia Pacific’s largest data centre market outside of China with a 1.4 gigawatt capacity, with both Tokyo and Osaka being key data centre hubs in the region”, said Manohar Khiatani, Senior Executive Director of CLI, who oversees the Group’s data centre business, adding, “Major cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle already have a presence in Osaka. Our acquisition is hence well-positioned to capture demand in Osaka’s established data centre cluster.”
Michelle Lee, Managing Director, Private Funds (Data Centre) of CLI, said, “With the rapid adoption of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) globally and especially in Asia, data centre demand is expected to enjoy double-digit growth and outstrip new supply. There is strong institutional interest in data centre investments, with 97 percent of investors planning to increase their overall investment in data centres.”
According to a press release, the data centre in Osaka will be AI-ready and feature state-of-the-art design with sustainability at its core. It will be designed, built, and certified in accordance with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or an equivalent Japanese green-certification standard.
The facility will integrate energy-saving solutions such as advanced cooling technologies and adopt industry best practices in temperature management to enhance energy and water usage efficiency. Furthermore, the data centre will utilize products with zero ozone depletion potential or with global warming potential (GWP) of less than 100 to minimise environmental impact.