By Kosaku Narioka

SoftBank Corp. plans to buy an industrial property in Osaka for more than $600 million to set up a big data center for artificial-intelligence applications, its latest investment in the burgeoning industry.

The Japanese telecom unit of SoftBank Group on Friday said it will acquire part of Sharp Corp.'s former display-making plant in Osaka for about 100 billion yen, equivalent to $635.2 million. It aims to start AI data-center operations in 2026.

SoftBank Corp. previously said it aimed to start full-scale operations in 2025 when it announced a plan to set up the AI data center in June.

SoftBank said Friday that the data center will initially have a power capacity of about 150 megawatts on a site of about 450,000 square meters, accounting for roughly 60% of the former plant site.

The telecom company said the acquisition is conditional upon the data center being able to receive about 250 megawatts of power in about four years.

SoftBank said it will use the data center for generative AI development and other related businesses and let other companies and universities use the facility.

SoftBank Group began investing more aggressively in recent months after a yearslong defensive strategy, as tech stocks have risen thanks partly to AI enthusiasm.

Earlier this year, SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said he believed computers will possess human-level cognitive abilities known as artificial general intelligence within two to three years.

Sharp, a Japanese unit of Foxconn Technology Group, had sought other business uses for the site after announcing the end of display production at the Sakai, Osaka plant earlier this year due to weak demand.

Domestic telecom rival KDDI also plans to set up an AI data center at the former plant site. KDDI said earlier this month that it would acquire the land, buildings, and electrical facilities from Sharp.

KDDI said it aimed to bring the data center to full-scale operation by the end of March 2026.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 20, 2024 05:51 ET (10:51 GMT)

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