The logo of SoftBank Group located in Tokyo, Japan. /Courtesy of SoftBank Group

SoftBank is set to acquire land and some facilities from the former liquid crystal panel factory for TVs located in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, from Sharp for about 100 billion yen (approximately 925 billion won), the Nikkei reported on the 20th.

On the same day, SoftBank and Sharp each held board meetings to approve the acquisition and sale of the land and facilities. SoftBank plans to formally sign a sales contract as early as March next year if it is determined that sufficient power can be supplied in the medium to long term.

The sales targets include land corresponding to about 60% of the site area, along with the factory located there, power and cooling facilities, and more.

SoftBank plans to build an artificial intelligence (AI) data center on this site. The total investment, including expenses related to purchasing graphics processing units (GPUs) from NVIDIA, could reach several hundred billion yen, the Nikkei reported.