{"id":206582,"date":"2026-04-28T03:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/softbank-is-converting-a-sharp-lcd-factory-into-a-battery-plant-for-ai-data-centres-the-data-centres-cannot-wait-five-years\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T03:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:45:09","slug":"softbank-is-converting-a-sharp-lcd-factory-into-a-battery-plant-for-ai-data-centres-the-data-centres-cannot-wait-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/softbank-is-converting-a-sharp-lcd-factory-into-a-battery-plant-for-ai-data-centres-the-data-centres-cannot-wait-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres. The data centres cannot wait five years."},"content":{"rendered":"

SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres. The data centres cannot wait five years.<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/softbank-is-converting-a-sharp-lcd-factory-into-a-battery-plant-for-ai-data-centres-the-data-centres-cannot-wait-five-years<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-04-24 15:54:10<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: thenextweb.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Summary:<\/h3>\n

SoftBank Corp. is undertaking an ambitious vertical integration project by converting part of the former Sharp LCD factory in Sakai, Osaka into one of Japan\u2019s largest battery production facilities for AI data centres, with production targets around 2031. This strategic pivot consolidates SoftBank’s extensive investments in ARM chips, AI chips from Graphcore and AMPERE, modular data centre units, and solar energy, aligning all sectors of the AI infrastructure stack under its wing. The energy storage arm comes to address the power fluctuations and dynamic capacities of AI data centres, which require substantial grid buffers. While this large-scale energy storage initiative faces significant financial pressure due to SoftBank’s substantial debt load, the move underscores the company’s commitment to overcoming geopolitical risks and energy supply chains\u2019 dependency issues, especially concerning dominant Chinese battery manufacturers. The initiative is heavily driven by SoftBank’s Stargate AI infrastructure projects and reflects Masayoshi Son’s bold vision of achieving artificial superintelligence.<\/p>\n

Key Points:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Vertical Integration<\/strong>: SoftBank aims to integrate fully through vertical integration with AI infrastructure spanning chips, data centres, energy, and now battery production.<\/li>\n
  • Energy Storage Need<\/strong>: AI data centres require advanced energy storage solutions to manage their power fluctuations and demand peaks.<\/li>\n
  • Strategic Risk<\/strong>: The move addresses geopolitical and supply chain risks, seeking to control energy production as opposed to relying on Chinese battery manufacturers.<\/li>\n
  • Financial Context<\/strong>: SoftBank\u2019s significant debt and reliance on substantial capital infusions to fund its Stargate projects highlight the financial strains behind this extensive plan.<\/li>\n
  • Future-Oriented Investment<\/strong>: The planned Sakai battery line targets the next wave of AI infrastructure projects set to go online in the late 2020s and early 2030s, despite current storage demands being unmet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/04\/softbank-battery-factory-sharp-sakai-ai-data-centres-1.avif","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206584,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206582\/revisions\/206584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}