SoftBank Announces Major AI Data Center in Ohio

SoftBank Group Corp announced plans on Friday to invest heavily in a massive artificial intelligence data center complex in Piketon, Ohio, on federally owned land at a former uranium enrichment site, marking one of the largest such projects in the United States.

The initiative, unveiled by SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son during a groundbreaking ceremony for an accompanying gas-fired power plant, aims to create a computing hub capable of drawing up to 10 gigawatts of electricity, equivalent to the power needs of millions of homes. The data center will connect directly to a 9.2-gigawatt natural gas power plant, with the first phase delivering about 800 megawatts of capacity by early 2028 at an estimated cost of 30 billion to 40 billion dollars. Construction on the power infrastructure is set to begin this year, with initial turbines to be installed within the next 12 months and full deployment expected by the end of the decade.

The project forms part of a broader 550 billion dollar U.S.-Japan investment commitment announced last year as part of a trade agreement that included tariff reductions on Japanese automobiles and other goods. This deal seeks to bolster American...