Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) plans to invest 8 trillion yen ($59 billion) over the next five years into data centers, artificial intelligence, and other "growth areas."

Of that, at least 1.5 trillion yen ($11bn) will go to expanding or upgrading its data centers. The digital business, including AI and robots, gets at least 3 trillion yen ($22bn).

The company said that it expects the spending to raise earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by around 20 percent in fiscal year ending March 2028 as compared to the previous fiscal year. That should mean earnings of around 4 trillion yen ($29.4bn).

"We're investing in growth areas to boost our ability to generate cash," President Akira Shimada told a news conference, Nikkei reports.

This June, NTT will launch a new company to commercialize its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) technology, which hopes to lead to all-photonics networks that consume less power and deliver more data.

Last year, we spoke to NTT Global Data Centers about the company's plans to become a major data center player.