Sakura Internet — Ishikari AI Data Center (Hokkaido)

Sakura Internet is one of Japan's most prominent domestic cloud providers and a key beneficiary of the Japanese government's sovereign AI infrastructure push. In early 2024, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) selected Sakura Internet to receive a subsidy of approximately ¥50 billion (≈$330 million) to build high-density GPU computing infrastructure, specifically to address the country's shortage of domestic AI compute capacity.

The Ishikari facility in Hokkaido, about 30 km north of Sapporo, anchors Sakura Internet's AI expansion. Hokkaido's cold climate provides natural cooling advantages that reduce power overhead — a key factor for energy-intensive GPU clusters. The campus hosts Sakura's existing data center footprint and is being expanded with dedicated AI zones equipped with NVIDIA H100 GPU nodes delivered under NVIDIA's Japan strategic partnership.

**Sovereign AI rationale**: Japan's government has explicitly framed this investment as a sovereignty initiative — ensuring that Japanese AI researchers, startups, and enterprises have access to domestic GPU compute rather than depending entirely on US hyperscalers. Sakura Internet's domestic cloud offering is marketed as compliant with Japanese data residency regulations, which matters for government, healthcare, and financial sector AI workloads.

**Scale and timeline**: The first GPU cluster phases were targeted for deployment in 2024–2025. At full buildout, the Ishikari campus is expected to reach roughly 50 MW of AI-capable compute capacity. Sakura Internet has also partnered with SoftBank, NTT, and NVIDIA under Japan's national AI strategy to help coordinate domestic GPU access.

The facility directly supports Japan's stated goal of becoming a leading AI nation, with the government announcing plans to deploy a cumulative 20,000+ NVIDIA AI GPUs across subsidized domestic providers by 2026.