Data center firm Global Compute Infrastructure (GCI) is partnering with a real estate firm to develop data center campuses in Japan.
Real estate firm the Asia Pacific Land (APL) Group and GCI this week announced the commencement of a joint venture to develop a new data center hub in Kyushu.
Located on a 15.5-acre site in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, the joint venture is developing a campus that could offer a total of 120MW. Construction is set to start next year, with the first 60MW phase set to come online in September 2027.
The partnership has also secured additional land and power resources in Fukuoka Prefecture that could offer approximately 250MW of capacity by 2029.
“We are thrilled to work with GCI to realize our vision of creating a new data center hub in Kyushu,” said Yoshinobu Takahara, chief investment officer, Asia, at APL. “This project is about more than infrastructure; it represents a commitment to continue working with the local and national government to position Kyushu as a critical player in Japan’s continued digital transformation by creating technology-related jobs and stimulating the local economy.”
Founded in 1994, APL Group is a private investment firm focused on real estate, digital infrastructure, renewable energy, and private equity transactions. The Kitakyushu site was purchased by APL from Kitakyushu City in November 2023. News that APL was interested in developing a data center in the area surfaced in August 2023.
APL also acquired land for a data center in Itoshima, in Fukuoka Prefecture, late last year. The 122,000 sqm (1.3 million sq ft) campus, reportedly located near the Maebaru Interchange on the Nishi Kyushu Expressway, will host six data centers. Construction is set to begin in spring 2025, with phased operations starting in 2029 and full completion by 2034.
Global Compute is backed by the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, which set up the company alongside Digital Realty co-founder Scott Peterson in 2020. It subsequently acquired Polish data center operator Atman and invested in Latin American firm Data Horizon Americas.
Update: GCI reached out to say that while it continues to work with Goldman around Atman and Data Horizon Americas, the investment firm is not involved in this particular deal. A spokesperson told DCD: "GCI has engaged in the initiative with APL outside of our relationship with Goldman."
“We are very excited to collaborate with APL to launch this significant, market-changing initiative,” said Scott Peterson, president and CEO of GCI. “Together, we are leveraging our expertise to establish an innovative data center hub that will serve the needs of the world’s most demanding data center customers across a range of deployment sizes and needs.”
Kitakyushu is the northernmost city on Japan’s Kyushu Island. IDC Frontier Inc., a subsidiary of SoftBank since 2018, opened a data center in Kitakyushu in 2008. According to the company, the campus can be expanded to 11 buildings; the sixth opened in 2017.