Sharp’s manufacturing base in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, once known as the world’s most advanced factory for large LCD television panels, will be transformed into a giant data center to process the massive amount of data for artificial intelligence applications, according to recent announcements from the two Japanese companies. major mobile providers.
SoftBank announced Friday that it has reached a basic agreement with Sharp to build an AI data center at the Sakai factory site. Moreover, telecom giant KDDI announced last week that it is in talks with Sharp to create a similar data center.
Sharp has struggled to make its LCD business profitable and previously announced it would end production at the Sakai factory by September.