• Facilities of roughly 50MW are planned across markets including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyushu, with new sites expected to enter service over several years
  • Itochu reportedly plans to lease the facilities to technology companies and later sell some assets, placing data centres within its property-development business

The fact

Japanese trading and investment group Itochu is reportedly planning to develop around 10 data centres in Japan by 2030. The company is considering locations in the Tokyo and Osaka markets and Kyushu, with facilities of roughly 50MW each. Reports say Itochu could invest several hundred billion yen in the programme, although a final investment figure has not been disclosed.

Itochu reportedly plans to lease the facilities to US technology companies and eventually sell data-centre assets to third parties. Its subsidiary Itochu Techno-Solutions previously owned five data centres that were sold in 2021 and currently operates six facilities in Japan. The new programme would therefore expand Itochu's role in developing and owning data-centre real estate rather than representing its first involvement in the sector.

The assessment

Itochu is not planning to keep every data centre on its balance sheet indefinitely. The reported model is to develop sites, lease them to large technology customers and potentially sell completed facilities to other investors. That puts tenant demand and the timing of any sale alongside power and construction as key parts of each project's economics.

The 2030 target should therefore be read as a pipeline, not as 500MW already committed. One 50MW project could be ready to build while another is still securing a site, electricity or a customer. Progress will depend on those decisions being made separately for each location.

For BTW readers, the first few projects will show whether Itochu can repeat this model. If it can secure power, sign tenants and then sell completed facilities, capital from one development can support later sites. Until that happens, the 10-centre target remains a development plan rather than a committed build programme.

What to watch

Watch for the first named sites, secured power, hyperscaler leases, and construction starts. Those milestones will show which parts of the 2030 pipeline have moved beyond planning. The first completed asset sale will also test whether Itochu is using development, leasing and disposal as a repeatable property model rather than simply expanding a long-term operating portfolio.