NTT plans $6.3bn Anthropic data center in Osaka
About $6.3 billion, a site in Osaka and a partial opening in 2028: Nikkei reports NTT Data and Anthropic are in the final round of talks.
In short
NTT Data is in final-stage talks to build Anthropic a dedicated data center in Osaka at an estimated cost of $6.3 billion, with part of the site slated to come online in 2028.
At a glance
- Builder: NTT Data Group. The capacity would be reserved for US AI company Anthropic.
- Site: Osaka, western Japan — described by Nikkei as among the largest processing capacities in the country.
- Estimated construction cost: $6.3 billion.
- Timeline: partial opening in 2028. Talks are in their final stage but not concluded.
- Not established: megawatt capacity, choice of accelerators, contract term, financing structure.
NTT Data Group is in the final stretch of negotiations to build a data center reserved for Anthropic, according to a Nikkei report. The site would sit in Osaka in western Japan, with construction costs estimated at $6.3 billion and part of the facility targeted to open in 2028.
Anthropic's first dedicated capacity in Japan
Anthropic operates no data center of its own in the country today. The arrangement described by Nikkei splits the work the way most frontier labs now handle markets abroad: a local operator builds and runs the halls, the model developer takes the compute. Nikkei calls the planned processing capacity one of the largest in Japan without attaching a megawatt figure to it.
What the report does not establish
Three numbers are missing. There is no electrical capacity for the site, no indication of which accelerators will fill it, and no term or financing structure behind the $6.3 billion estimate. The wording also matters: final-stage negotiation is not a signed contract, and buildouts of this size have fallen apart late before.
Why the location counts
Compute inside Japan answers the two objections that keep regulated buyers away from overseas capacity — round-trip latency and where the data physically rests. Osaka sits in the Kansai region rather than greater Tokyo, where Japanese data center capacity has traditionally clustered. For Anthropic, a domestic site is the precondition for selling to public-sector bodies and large enterprises that require in-country processing.
What to watch
The project becomes real with three things: a confirmation from both companies, a stated grid connection in megawatts, and an account of where the power comes from. Until then, $6.3 billion is an estimate of construction cost rather than a committed investment. The story originates with Nikkei Asia; neither NTT Data nor Anthropic had commented at the time of the report.
FAQ
Who is building Anthropic's data center in Japan?
NTT Data Group. Anthropic would use the compute, while the Japanese IT group handles construction and operation, according to Nikkei.
When will the Osaka data center open?
Part of the facility is targeted for 2028. The report gives no date for full operation.
Has NTT Data signed a deal with Anthropic?
No. Nikkei describes the talks as being in their final stage. There is no signed contract and no joint announcement from either company.
