Shares of Sakura Internet surged as much as 20.2% Friday after Microsoft said it has begun discussions 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 AI infrastructurestrengthen cybersecurity and train 1 million engineers and developers by 2030.
Sakura Internetwhich provides internet infrastructure services using domestic data centersand Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. will partner with Microsoft to provide AI computing resourcesincluding graphics processing units located in Japan.
The announcement came during a visit to Japan by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smithwho met Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Smith said the investment comes as demand for cloud and AI services grows in Japan. Around one in five working-age people in the country use generative AI toolscompared with the global average of about one in sixaccording to Microsoft's AI Diffusion Report.
The partnership will allow data to be processed in Japan and support the development of advanced AI systems such as domestic large language modelsMicrosoft said in a statement.
SoftBank and Microsoft Japan are also discussing a joint solution that would allow Microsoft Azure customers to use SoftBank's AI computing platform.
Shares of Softbank Group were up 0.22% in Friday tradewhile SoftBank Corp. rose 1.02%
SeparatelyMicrosoft will partner with five other major Japanese IT companiesincluding NTT Data Corp.NECFujitsu and Hitachito train 1 million AI professionals by 2030.