Japanese power company Jera and two partners plan to spend $15 billion to build a large artificial intelligence data center near Tokyo. The companies announced the project on Thursday, according to Jiji Press.
The data center will be built at a thermal power station in Chiba, a city close to the Japanese capital. The power station is run by Jera, a Japanese electricity supplier.
Jera's partners in the project are Dell Technologies, a U.S. technology company, and Rhaelm Holdings, a British data center developer. The three companies signed a partnership agreement on Thursday.
Inside the $15 Billion Chiba Project
The data center will have a power capacity of up to 400,000 kilowatts. That is equal to 400 megawatts of electricity.
At that size, it will be one of the biggest data centers in Japan. The facility is expected to go into operation around 2028.
Data centers that run artificial intelligence systems use large amounts of electricity. The power runs computer servers and the systems that keep the equipment cool.
The project is the first phase of the partnership between the three companies. The goal of the agreement is to speed up the development of AI infrastructure.
Details about any later phases were not included in the report. It is also not clear how the $15 billion cost will be split among the partners.
Why Build Inside a Power Plant
The plan places the data center directly inside the power station. Electricity from the plant will be supplied straight to the facility.
This setup removes the need to build large power transmission facilities. Those facilities would normally be needed to carry electricity from a power plant to a data center in another location.
Skipping that step allows the data center to begin operations quickly. The companies chose this approach to get the facility running sooner.
Jera is jointly owned by two Japanese utilities. One owner is a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, and the other is Chubu Electric Power.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings supplies electricity to the Tokyo area. Chubu Electric Power is based in central Japan.
Dell Technologies sells computers, servers and data storage equipment. Rhaelm Holdings develops data center projects and is based in Britain.
Each partner brings a different role to the deal. Jera provides the power plant site and electricity, while Dell and Rhaelm bring technology and data center experience.
The partnership agreement was signed on Thursday. The first phase in Chiba is now set to open around 2028.
