Gate News message, April 24 — SoftBank Corp, the mobile unit of Japan’s SoftBank Group, plans to convert part of its factory in Sakai, Osaka into a large battery production line for AI data centers. CEO Junichi Miyakawa is expected to announce the project in May as part of a new five-year plan, with production targeted to begin within five years. The facility will supply batteries initially to SoftBank’s own data centers at the former Sharp LCD factory the company acquired for 100 billion yen (approximately $627 million) in 2025.
The battery plant could produce several gigawatt-hours of batteries, positioning it as one of Japan’s largest production lines. The broader Sakai campus spans 750,000 square meters and is designed for more than 150 megawatts of power for AI computing, with the AI data center expected to become operational by the end of 2026.
SoftBank’s move reflects a wider industry trend of tech companies securing energy infrastructure to power AI expansion. SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has also discussed an Ohio project featuring a 9.2-gigawatt gas-fired power plant to support 10 gigawatts of data center capacity. Additionally, OpenAI and SoftBank Group invested $1 billion in SB Energy, a renewable energy developer, to support planned AI data center expansion. Global AI infrastructure is expanding rapidly, with approximately 22.8 gigawatts of data center IT capacity currently under construction.
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