JERA signs deal for US$15bn AI data centre in Japan to open around 2028
JERA, Dell and RHAELM aim to build data centres at other JERA power plants across Japan in the 2030s with several million kilowatts of combined power capacity.
- Japanese electricity supplier JERA, Dell Technologies, and RHAELM Holdings have partnered to invest US$15 billion in a new AI data center.
- The facility will be built inside a JERA-operated thermal power station in Chiba, Japan, utilizing on-site electricity generation.
- Operations are scheduled to begin around 2028, with a planned power capacity of up to 400,000 kilowatts, making it one of the nation's largest.
- This project is the first phase of a larger plan to build data centers at other JERA power plants across Japan during the 2030s.
Japanese electricity supplier JERA Co., Inc., US technology company Dell Technologies Inc. and British data centre developer RHAELM Holdings Ltd. signed an agreement on Thursday (October 1) to speed up artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure development.
The companies announced plans to spend US$15 billion on an AI data centre inside a thermal power station in Chiba, a city near Tokyo, as the partnership’s first phase.
JERA, Dell and RHAELM intend to develop a standardised model combining data centre construction and operation with the procurement of fuel for electricity generation.
The longer-term goal is to build centres at other JERA-operated power plants across Japan during the 2030s, with a combined data centre power capacity of several million kilowatts.
Access to electricity generated on site means the Chiba centre would not require large-scale power transmission facilities, helping it begin operations sooner.
Its planned power capacity of up to 400,000 kilowatts would put it among Japan’s largest data centres.
JERA operates Chiba Thermal Power Station and is jointly owned by Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. and a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.
Operations at the Chiba data centre are expected to start around 2028.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
