TOKYO – Major telecommunications provider NTT Inc. is considering building the first core data center for U.S. artificial intelligence startup Anthropic in Japan, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The construction cost for the data center, to be built in a coastal area in southern Osaka Prefecture and handled by NTT Data Group Corp., is expected to total roughly 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion), making it one of the leading projects in the country.
Anthropic opened its first office in Asia in Tokyo in October last year and the launch of a data center is expected to help the company expand its business in Japan amid the AI boom.
Since data centers handle confidential corporate and personal data, having domestic facilities is seen as desirable from a national security perspective and can help mitigate risks related to operations and data transfers.
Japanese digital minister Toshiharu Furukawa said Tuesday the government had asked Anthropic to consider the country as a site for a data center during a meeting in Tokyo with Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, adding that the government was willing to support such a project.
Anthropic is a leading developer of generative AI, and its Claude Mythos model is seen as highly capable of finding security vulnerabilities. Governments around the world have worked to strengthen ties with the startup to gain access with its technology and information.
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