Google will open its first data center in Japan by 2023, according to CEO Sundar Pichai.

In a blog, the Google CEO said the new facility would be in Inzai City, Chiba. It will be Google's third data center in Asia.

Google already bas cloud regions in Tokyo and Osaka, but these are hosted in colocation facilities run by partners like Equinix.

"We’ll be opening our first data center in Japan — in Inzai City, Chiba — in 2023," said Pichai. "This will give people in Japan faster, more reliable access to our tools and services, support economic activity and jobs, and connect Japan to the rest of the global digital economy."

The Chiba data center is part of a $730 million investment in Japan-related infrastructure, the Google CEO said. This includes the Topaz subsea cable, which crosses the Pacific and will be the first fiber cable to connect Japan and the West Coast of Canada when it opens in 2023.

As is normal for such announcements, Pichai emphasized how much benefit Google's investment will give local people. "According to a recent Analysys Mason study, Google’s network infrastructure investments in Japan, both past and present, could enable an additional $303 billion in GDP between 2022 and 2026."

Pichai visited Japan this week, and launched nedw Pixel devices, as well as meeting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to share Google’s “Japan Digitization Initiative” plan which includes infrastructure training programs and Google.org grants for foundations.

This announcement comes on top of Google's announcement of a cloud region in South Africa, in South Africa.