NTT Data said to eye ¥1.5 trillion outlay for Japan data centers

NTT Data Group expects to spend at least $9 billion through 2033 to quadruple computing capacity to 1 gigawatt to address a surge in demand in Japan.

The country’s biggest data center operator, which is owned by government-backed NTT, intends to add roughly 750 megawatts of capacity over the next seven years to meet soaring demand from companies seeking to catch up in artificial intelligence, people familiar with the matter said.

That would mean spending at least ¥1.5 trillion ($9.6 billion) for construction and equipment installations, estimated the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private. That’s based on the assumption that each megawatt of data center capacity installed in Japan costs ¥2 billion to ¥2.5 billion, excluding the cost of AI accelerators such as Nvidia’s.