Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group has announced a significant investment aimed at boosting its AI data centers' computational power, with plans to spend approximately 150 billion yen ($960 million) by 2025. This investment includes purchasing GPUs from Nvidia, which will partly fuel SoftBank's own AI research initiatives and partly be leased to other enterprises in need.
In the previous year, SoftBank invested 20 billion yen in building computational infrastructure. With this latest announcement, the total investment reaches far beyond that of any other company in Japan, positioning SoftBank to potentially become the company with the highest computational capabilities in the country.
SoftBank is currently focusing on developing high-performance generative AI specifically designed for the Japanese language. The company expects to complete the development of a Large Language Model (LLM) with 390 billion parameters in the 2024 fiscal year and plans to start developing a high-performance model with a trillion parameters next year. For context, OpenAI's GPT-4 has already reached the trillion-parameter mark.
In addition to developing domestic AI technology, SoftBank is actively building data centers to support the rollout of new AI services. The company plans to invest 65 billion yen in constructing data centers across Japan, a move that is expected to further solidify SoftBank's competitive position in the AI sector and enhance Japan's participation in the global AI race.
The market has responded enthusiastically to SoftBank's aggressive AI investment. In late March, the company's stock price reached 2064 yen, marking a new high since its 2018 listing, as investors are optimistic about the long-term profitability driven by the development of AI.
Despite the current dominance of U.S. tech companies in performance and investment, Japan is rapidly catching up. Japanese firms including NTT and NEC are actively engaging in AI, and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has plans to provide a total of 72.5 billion yen (approximately $470 million) in funding to five companies for AI development.
According to the latest forecasts by market research firm Statista, Japan's generative AI market is expected to reach $13 billion by 2030, which would be 17 times its size in 2023. This explosive growth projection underscores the significant impact that AI is anticipated to have on the technological landscape in Japan.
