The data centre is part of a $730 million investment in infrastructure started last year
Google recently announced that it will open its first data centre in Japan — in Inzai City, Chiba — in 2023. The company believes that it will connect Japan to the global digital economy by providing faster and more reliable access to Google’s tools and services, while also supporting economic activity and jobs.
CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai said: “Our goal is to ensure everyone benefits from the innovation happening in Japan. Today, I was pleased to share the details of our new Japan Digitization Initiative with Prime Minister Kishida. We’re expanding our commitment to build infrastructure, provide digital training and opportunity, and support partners and nonprofits working to bring the benefits of technology to more people.”
As per the official statement, the Chiba data centre is part of a $730 million investment in infrastructure that began last year and will continue through 2024. Citing a recent Analysys Mason study, the statement said that Google’s network infrastructure investments in Japan, both past and present, could enable an additional $303 billion in GDP between 2022 and 2026.
Talking of digital training and opportunity, Pichai commented: “We’ve seen in Japan and around the world how the pandemic has accelerated the need for skills in specific, high-growth jobs, and we’ve created new kinds of training models to meet the increased demand. That includes the Japan Reskilling Consortium, which we launched in June. It’s a collaboration between business, governments and the nonprofit sector, providing skills training in areas like artificial intelligence and digital marketing and a job-matching service to help trainees find work opportunities. The consortium already offers more than 300 training programs with more than 90 partners.
“We’ve also launched a new program to help Japanese companies develop a workplace culture that fosters innovation — with support from Google tailored to different businesses’ needs. We’ll keep building on these initiatives and partnerships from here.”
