Japan’s SoftBank is planning to develop a new data center in Tomakomai City, Hokkaido.
News agency Jiji this week reported that the telecoms giant is looking to invest 40-60 billion yen ($266-400 million) in developing "one of Japan’s largest data centers" in the city.
Details are sparse, but the company is reportedly looking to launch the facility in 2026.
SoftBank is said to be targeting a new facility in the northern island of Hokkaido to address concerns around energy consumption amid the growing demands of generative AI.
An application has been made to the Ministry of Economy Trade, and Industry seeking subsidies for up to half of the project’s costs.
SoftBank currently operates 13 data centers across Japan; four in Tokyo, three each around Osaka and Kitakyushu, and one each in Oita, Fukushima, and Sapporo.
As well as offering colocation and hosting services directly, SoftBank also offers services through its IDC Frontier subsidiary which operates a number of facilities in the country, including the 50MW Tokyo Fuchu Data Center, which can support about 4,000 server racks.
The telco also owns the Internet exchange BBIX and dark fiber company BB Backbone.
