Data Center Atlas
SoftBank Osaka Sakai AI data center
Under construction
Japan · 1 project · Last reported
Summary
SoftBank Corp. is converting part of Sharp's former LCD panel plant in Sakai, Osaka into a large AI data center, reusing the plant's land, buildings, power and cooling infrastructure. SoftBank agreed in March 2025 to buy the land and buildings for about 100 billion yen, targeting operation of an initial phase of roughly 150 MW receiving capacity in 2026 and later expansion beyond 250 MW. In 2026 SoftBank described the site as under construction and as the planned home of GPU cloud and sovereign cloud services, alongside AI server assembly and battery manufacturing.
Source record as of 2026-06-23 · Details and sources
Location
The interactive map needs JavaScript. Display anchor: 34.59600, 135.43330 (Point locator, WGS 84).
View location: OpenStreetMap · Google Maps · Bing aerial · Copernicus Browser
Approximate site reference; the exact facility position is unverified.
Projects (1)
SoftBank Osaka Sakai AI data center
Under construction last observed as of · Reported status
Location: Sakai, Sakai-ku, Osaka Prefecture, JP. SoftBank names Sharp's Sakai LCD plant in Sakai City; Sharp gives the plant address as 1 Takumi-cho, Sakai-ku. Coordinates are the OpenStreetMap Nominatim centroid of the Takumi-cho neighbourhood, so they approximate the plant complex rather than the exact SoftBank portion (about 60% of the plant land). SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp.; Sharp Corporation
Use: Ai unspecified, Cloud
Capacity, investment and other figures
| Measure | Value | Scope | As of | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power capacity | more than 150 MW | Planned · Phase · Unspecified · Initial phase (2024 MoU plan) | 2024-06-07 | Initial capacity stated in the June 2024 memorandum announcement. | SoftBank Corp. |
| Power capacity | more than 400 MW | Planned · Campus · Unspecified | 2024-06-07 | Long-term figure from the June 2024 announcement; later SoftBank releases cite expansion beyond 250 MW instead. | SoftBank Corp. |
| Power capacity | about 150 MW | Planned · Phase · Grid connection · Initial phase targeted for 2026 | 2025-03-14 | SoftBank describes this as receiving (utility intake) capacity. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. |
| Power capacity | more than 250 MW | Planned · Campus · Grid connection | 2025-03-14 | Future receiving capacity. The December 2024 release says the 250 MW-class supply was expected about four years after the purchase is completed and made the purchase conditional on it. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. |
| Power capacity | more than 240 MW | Planned · Campus · Unspecified | 2025-03-14 | TechCrunch's eventual figure, which differs slightly from SoftBank's own 250 MW-plus figure. | TechCrunch |
| Power capacity | 140 MW | Planned · Phase · Unspecified · AX Factory AI computing infrastructure | 2026-05-12 | SoftBank's May 2026 growth strategy gives 140 MW as the power assumed for the AI computing infrastructure under development at Sakai. | SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) |
| Investment | about 100,000,000,000 JPY | Announced · Campus | 2025-03-14 | Purchase price for the plant land and buildings only; no total build cost has been published by SoftBank. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp.; TechCrunch |
| Land area | about 44 hectares | Planned · Campus | 2024-06-07 | Reported as about 440,000 square meters, roughly 60% of the plant land, in the 2024 memorandum announcement. | SoftBank Corp. |
| Land area | about 45 hectares | Acquired · Campus | 2025-03-14 | Reported as about 450,000 square meters in the purchase releases. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. |
| Floor area | about 840,000 sq_m | Planned · Campus | 2025-03-14 | Total floor area of the existing plant buildings being acquired; the 2024 memorandum release gave about 750,000. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. |
Companies and organizations
| Name | Role | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| SoftBank Corp. | Developer | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) | |
| SoftBank Corp. | Owner | Signed a purchase agreement with Sharp Corporation in March 2025 for the land and buildings; Sharp was the seller. | SoftBank Corp.; TechCrunch |
| OpenAI | Tenant | TechCrunch cited a Nikkei report that OpenAI intends to use GPUs at the Sakai site to develop models for Japan; OpenAI declined to comment, SoftBank did not confirm, and SoftBank's releases do not name OpenAI as a tenant. | TechCrunch |
Timeline
| Date | Event | Actual or planned | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-06-07 | Announced | Actual | Memorandum of understanding with Sharp announced. | SoftBank Corp. |
| 2024-12-20 | Other | Actual | SoftBank board conditionally approved acquiring the land and buildings. | SoftBank Corp. |
| 2025-03-14 | Site acquired | Actual | Purchase and sale agreement signed with Sharp; the date of final closing was not found. | SoftBank Corp.; TechCrunch |
| 2026 | First operational | Planned | Target for the initial roughly 150 MW phase in the December 2024 and March 2025 releases. No 2026 source found confirms that operation has begun. | SoftBank Corp.; SoftBank Corp. |
| 2025 | First operational | Planned | Original June 2024 target for full-scale operation; later releases moved the target to 2026. | SoftBank Corp. |
Sources for these details
- SoftBank Corp. to Construct Large-scale AI Data Center that Utilizes Sharp Sakai Plant — SoftBank Corp.; 2024-06-07
- Resolution on acquisition of land and buildings at Sharp's Sakai Plant for an AI data center (Japanese) — SoftBank Corp.; 2024-12-20 · Archived source
- AIデータセンターの構築に向けて、シャープ堺工場の土地や建物の取得に関する契約を締結 — SoftBank Corp.; 2025-03-14
- SoftBank buys $676M old Sharp plant for its OpenAI collab in Japan — TechCrunch; 2025-03-14 · Archived source
- Activating AI for Society: SoftBank Corp.'s New Growth Strategy to Continuously Achieve Record-High Profits — SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News); 2026-05-12 · Archived source
- SoftBank Corp.'s 40th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: Building on Telecommunications Foundation to Unlock Potential of AI — SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News); 2026-06-23 · Archived source
- New LCD Panel Plant under Construction in Sakai City to Start Operations in October 2009 — Sharp Corporation; 2009-04-08
- Companies
Source and location review
- Status source
- SoftBank Corp.'s 40th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: Building on Telecommunications Foundation to Unlock Potential of AI evidence row
SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) · published 2026-06-23 · Company disclosure - Locator
- Approximate site reference · Compiled location reference · approximate_site evidence
- Source checks
Not reviewed against imagery not_
reviewed
No imagery review is recorded for this project. Its status rests only on the dated authoritative source. · no independent imagery verificationStatus age at review: 126 days before the data update on 2026-10-27
Location details
- Coordinates
- 34.59600, 135.43330
- Geometry licence
- source-terms-not-recorded
- Use scope
- Approximate site reference
- Scope class
- approximate_site
- Authority
- Compiled location reference
- Source entity
- Project
- Method
- imported_reference_point
- Derivation
- imported_reference_point
- Precision scope
- SoftBank names Sharp's Sakai LCD plant in Sakai City; Sharp gives the plant address as 1 Takumi-cho, Sakai-ku. Coordinates are the OpenStreetMap Nominatim centroid of the Takumi-cho neighbourhood, so they approximate the plant complex rather than the exact SoftBank portion (about 60% of the plant land).
- Horizontal uncertainty
Not reported
The source record provides no measured horizontal uncertainty; original coordinate precision and note are preserved.
- Geometry evidence
- 91c22675
A locator places the site on the map. It is not a building footprint, a construction extent or a surveyed boundary unless the use scope is an official boundary, and even then it is a parcel or permit boundary.
Evidence
Sources are linked, not redistributed; each keeps its own terms. An archived copy is a lookup for the Wayback Machine capture nearest the retrieval date and may be unavailable or differ from what was reviewed. Each hash states what it covers; imported factual records are not publisher-page captures.
| Title | Publisher | Roles | Published | Retrieved | Licence | Attribution | Content hash (SHA-256) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activating AI for Society: SoftBank Corp.'s New Growth Strategy to Continuously Achieve Record-High Profits Archived copy | SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) Company disclosure | Imported: Record, Metric: Power Capacity | source-terms-not-recorded | SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) | 0191950acc0a6bfe31aaa8c353e61ed1296bc046e270b6d0131142e592faf5bbFactual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| AIデータセンターの構築に向けて、シャープ堺工場の土地や建物の取得に関する契約を締結 Archived copy | SoftBank Corp. Company disclosure | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record, Metric: Floor Area, Metric: Investment, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: First Operational, Milestone: Site Acquired, Role: Developer, Owner claim | source-terms-not-recorded | SoftBank Corp. | db7f177db0c20804081c18bffa152fb94b4b147e962181a086ec85ab89e3d834Factual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| New LCD Panel Plant under Construction in Sakai City to Start Operations in October 2009 Archived copy | Sharp Corporation Company disclosure | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record | source-terms-not-recorded | Sharp Corporation | 948748fd38a0fd7da6f35a1f4fbeed7b577831f3e3428cdcef8f0cc0188c1670Factual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| Resolution on acquisition of land and buildings at Sharp's Sakai Plant for an AI data center (Japanese) Archived copy | SoftBank Corp. Company disclosure | Imported: Record, Metric: Floor Area, Metric: Investment, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: First Operational, Milestone: Other | source-terms-not-recorded | SoftBank Corp. | eae25e7fc3f0f5bbb8e950ad72a7896a9e2e75db50f4a225e5fa61963fbbd262Factual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| SoftBank buys $676M old Sharp plant for its OpenAI collab in Japan Archived copy | TechCrunch News | Imported: Record, Metric: Investment, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: Site Acquired, Owner claim, Tenant claim | source-terms-not-recorded | TechCrunch | 27b7828bbc67c7556285b7045ae7d81e56dc7a8792d1be0d0f57f90dfa9f8defFactual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| SoftBank Corp. to Construct Large-scale AI Data Center that Utilizes Sharp Sakai Plant Archived copy | SoftBank Corp. Company disclosure | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: Announced, Milestone: First Operational, Role: Developer | source-terms-not-recorded | SoftBank Corp. | a027311fb996964d648166061c9f395937571df0bac3f941a093fea7269f4daeFactual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| SoftBank Corp.'s 40th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: Building on Telecommunications Foundation to Unlock Potential of AI Archived copy | SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) Company disclosure | Imported: Record, Imported: Status, Role: Developer | source-terms-not-recorded | SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank News) | 8a1fca6db32be607c2e20217307f19256858b311e3aabb645eff29d4ccd23519Factual source record; not the publisher page |
Cite this site
Kyars, K. (2026). SoftBank Osaka Sakai AI data center [site vcc-site-d9155165962c78be00da]. In Data Center Atlas (2026-10-27) [Data set]. https://kiankyars.github.io/datacenter-atlas/sites/vcc-site-d9155165962c78be00da/
Show on the map explorer JSON for this site GeoJSON for this site Download dataset Report a correction