NTT Data in final talks to build Anthropic's first Japan data center

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Oct 13, 2026, 03:40 UTC

On October 13, 2026, Nikkei Asia reported that NTT Data and Anthropic are in final talks over a deal to build Anthropic's first data center in Japan. The planned facility would be located in Osaka and is valued at up to $6.3 billion, with NTT Data serving as both builder and operator. No formal agreement has been announced, and negotiations remain ongoing as of the date of the report.

The deal, if completed, would represent a significant expansion of Anthropic's physical infrastructure footprint into Asia. Until now, Anthropic has operated primarily through cloud partnerships rather than dedicated regional data centers, so an Osaka facility would mark a shift toward owning or anchoring its own compute capacity in a major market. Japan has been an active destination for AI infrastructure investment, with major American technology companies committing billions to data center construction there over the past two years. A $6.3 billion commitment would place this project among the larger individual AI infrastructure deals announced in the country. The question of whether final terms can be agreed, and on what timeline, remains open.

None of the three camps have published reactions to this story yet. The Pro-AI camp would typically welcome a deal of this scale as evidence that frontier AI developers are building the durable, sovereign infrastructure needed to serve global users reliably. The Anti-AI camp would likely raise concerns about the concentration of powerful AI systems in large proprietary data centers, the energy demands such facilities place on regional grids, and the limited public oversight of how capacity is eventually used. The Middle Ground camp would probably focus on questions of governance, calling for clear agreements between Anthropic, NTT Data, and Japanese regulators about data handling standards and accountability before construction proceeds.

The clearest signal to watch for is a formal announcement from either Anthropic or NTT Data confirming that an agreement has been signed, along with any disclosed timeline for groundbreaking in Osaka. Statements from Japan's government on permitting or support for the project would also help clarify how far along the process has moved beyond the negotiating stage.