Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith (left) and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pose before a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026.
Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
shares of sakura internet It then jumped 20.2% on Friday. microsoft The company announced that it has begun discussions with Japanese cloud companies and SoftBank to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in Japan.
Microsoft said it plans to invest $10 billion in Japan between 2026 and 2029 to build AI infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity and train 1 million engineers and developers by 2030.
Sakura Internet, which uses domestic data centers to provide internet infrastructure services, and Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. will partner with Microsoft to provide AI computing resources, including graphics processing units located in Japan.
This announcement was made when Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith visited Japan and met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Smith said the investment was made in response to growing demand for cloud and AI services in Japan. According to Microsoft’s AI Adoption Report, approximately one in five working-age people in the country uses generative AI tools, compared to a global average of approximately one in six.
The partnership will enable data processing in Japan and support the development of advanced AI systems such as large-scale language models in the country, Microsoft said in a statement.
Softbank We are also discussing joint solutions that will enable Microsoft Japan and Microsoft Azure customers to use SoftBank’s AI computing platform.
shares of Softbank Group It rose 0.22% in Friday trading, while SoftBank Corp. rose 1.02%.
Separately, Microsoft plans to partner with five other major Japanese IT companies. NTT Data Corporation,NEC, Fujitsu and Hitachitrain 1 million AI experts by 2030.
