Mitsubishi Estate launches $10 bn AI data‑center push in Japan

Mitsubishi Estate announced a domestic rollout of large‑scale data centres totaling about 1.5 trillion yen (roughly $10 billion) and a power capacity of 2,500 MW. The developer has already secured land and electricity for roughly 1,000 MW across the Kanto and Kansai regions and plans to begin construction in phases. Drawing on its experience building 14 sites in the United States with a 2.3‑trillion‑yen investment, the company aims to become a leading Japanese data‑centre provider as demand from generative AI expands. The move comes amid a broader surge in AI‑driven data‑centre construction in Japan, prompting concerns over rising electricity consumption, water use, heat emissions, noise, and electricity‑price impacts, and fueling debate over the need for additional nuclear capacity. At the same time, bitcoin‑mining firms with existing power and cooling assets, such as Riot Platforms, are repurposing those resources for AI data‑centre services, exemplified by an expanded AMD contract to 50 MW.