Japan’s Sakura Internet jumps 20% as Microsoft plans $10 billion AI push with SoftBank

shares Sakura Internet It rose up to 20.2 percent on Friday Microsoft He said that he started negotiations with the Japanese cloud company 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 artificial intelligence infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity and train 1 million engineers and developers by 2030.

Sakura Internet, which provides internet infrastructure services using domestic data centers, and Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. will partner with Microsoft to provide artificial intelligence computing resources, including graphics processing units, located in Japan.

The announcement came during Microsoft Vice President and President Brad Smith’s visit to Japan where he met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Smith said the investment comes as demand for cloud and artificial intelligence services is increasing in Japan. According to Microsoft’s AI Diffusion Report, nearly one in five working-age people in the country use productive AI tools; the global average is about one in six people.

Microsoft said in a statement that the partnership will allow data to be processed in Japan and support the development of advanced artificial intelligence systems such as domestic large language models.

SoftBank and Microsoft Japan are also discussing a joint solution that would allow Microsoft Azure customers to use SoftBank’s AI computing platform.

shares Softbank Group SoftBank Corp. rose 0.22% in Friday trading. increased by 1.02%

Separately, Microsoft will partner with five other major Japanese IT companies, including: NTT Data CompanyNEC, Fujitsu And hitachiTo train 1 million artificial intelligence professionals by 2030.