Oracle Invests $8B to Expand Cloud, AI Offerings in Japan

Oracle is investing more than $8 billion over the next decade to expand AI infrastructure and cloud computing in Japan.

The investment aims to expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), the company's cloud computing service in Japan, to meet growing demand.

Oracle also announced a commitment to help local customers with their digital sovereignty plans. A recent Omdia report found that businesses in Asia and Oceania are more interested in local, sovereign solutions.

The company said its expanded operations would include hiring Japanese personnel and engineering staff to support local AI and cloud efforts.

Oracle’s Japanese expansion will also increase access to public clouds in Tokyo and Osaka.

Oracle Alloy is also being expanded in Japan. Alloy allows customers to offer cloud services wherever they want. The company said this would enable local governments and businesses to “continue to move their mission-critical workloads to the Oracle Cloud and embrace sovereign AI solutions.”

“We are dedicated to meeting our customers and partners where they are in their cloud journey,” said Toshimitsu Misawa, Oracle Corp. Japan’s corporate executive officer and president. “By growing our cloud footprint and providing a team to support sovereign operations in Japan, we are giving our customers and partners the opportunity to innovate with AI and other cloud services while supporting their regulatory and sovereignty requirements.”

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In addition to expanding its presence in Japan, Oracle is partnering with Fujitsu to offer local cloud and AI services. Through the partnership, Fujitsu will deploy Alloy, providing Japanese customers with access to OCI services.

“Our collaboration with Oracle positions us to deliver a sovereign cloud offering that enables hyperscale functionality and digital sovereignty capabilities while ensuring operational governance by Fujitsu,” said Kazushi Koga, Fujitsu’s senior executive vice president.

Oracle’s announcement comes on the heels of Microsoft announcing last week that it plans to invest $2.9 billion to expand local AI efforts and open a new research lab in Tokyo.