Sharp said Friday it has signed a basic agreement to acquire telecommunications company SoftBank Corp. to grant exclusive negotiating rights for the partial sale of its Sakai factory in Osaka Prefecture.
Sharp will stop production at the Sakai factory at the end of September as it winds down its LCD display business.
SoftBank plans to take over about 440,000 square meters, or about 60%, of the factory site and build a large data center for the development of generative artificial intelligence. The goal is to start construction this fall and have the data center fully operational in 2025.
The price for the part of the factory site will be determined later.
SoftBank plans to operate the data center on its own, while external organizations such as universities and research institutions can use it.
Sharp and SoftBank will also consider collaborating in AI-related businesses.
Sharp had already agreed to begin talks with another major telecommunications company, KDDI, and others to set up an AI data center elsewhere on the Sakai factory site.
