$DELL SIGNS MOU WITH JERA, RHAELM FOR $15B+ JAPAN AI INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT
Dell, JERA and RHAELM plan to build a standardized model for large-scale AI infrastructure in Japan, starting with a 400 MW project in Chiba.
The first site is expected to exceed $15B in total investment across land, power, construction and AI compute.
JERA will provide behind-the-meter power from its existing plant, RHAELM will develop and operate the site, and Dell will supply the rack-scale AI infrastructure.
Apollo $APO intends to serve as RHAELM’s strategic financing partner.
Operations are targeted to begin in phases in 2028 and reach the full 400 MW in 2029.
The partners are also exploring additional JERA sites, with a broader goal of building multi-gigawatt AI capacity across Japan. The FT estimates the wider infrastructure push could reach roughly $140B.
JUST IN - JERA, Japan's largest power producer, in partnership with major U.S. technology companies, to build a $3 billion gas-fired power plant in the U.S., for a co-located data center designed for training LLMs, scheduled to begin operating 2028 — Nikkei
JAPAN 🇯🇵 PLANS $140B AI DATA CENTER PUSH WITH DELL & JERA
Japan is planning a major AI infrastructure buildout aimed at becoming the largest AI compute hub outside the U.S. and China, according to the FT.
Dell, Jera and Rhaelm have agreed to develop a $15B, 400 MW AI data center near Tokyo, financed by Apollo and expected to begin operations around 2028.
Jera says the group is targeting 3 to 4 GW of AI data center and gas-power infrastructure over the next five years.
At an estimated $35B to $45B per GW, that implies roughly $140B of total investment.
The first Chiba project will not connect to the grid, with dedicated gas-fired generation built alongside the data center to speed up power availability.
For context, current data center power consumption is roughly:
U.S.: 29.2 GW
China: 8.5 GW
Japan: 1.7 GW
Japan is separately targeting about $206B of public-private investment in cloud and data center infrastructure by 2035.
Source: FT