KDDI Opens AI Data Center at Former Sharp Plant in Osaka Prefecture; Facility Will Provide Google’s Gemini AI Model for Domestic Users

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, January 24, 2026

KDDI Corp. has begun operations at an artificial intelligence data center built on the site of the former Sharp Sakai plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture.

The center will use state-of-the-art semiconductors from Nvidia Corp. for AI training and operations, and it will provide U.S. tech giant Google LLC’s Gemini generative AI model to domestic users, KDDI said Thursday.

KDDI is using part of a factory that previously produced liquid crystal display panels for the data center, which is four stories tall and has a power intake capacity of 48 megawatts. This amount of power is equivalent to the consumption of about 12,000 households.

According to KDDI, the facility’s use of Nvidia’s high-performance graphics processing units makes it capable of processing data for AI development up to four times faster than conventional data centers.

Furthermore, the facility uses KDDI’s dedicated telecommunications lines to provide an environment that is disconnected from the broader internet. This setup will facilitate the use of AI while ensuring that critical data, such as medical records, is managed domestically.

“We want to support a digital society through the twin pillars of telecommunications and AI,” President Hiromichi Matsuda said at Thursday’s opening ceremony for the data center.