The Chiba data centre is part of a US$730 million investment in infrastructure that began last year and will continue through to 2024.
“This will give people in Japan faster, more reliable access to our tools an services, support economic activity and jobs and connect Japan to the rest of the global digital economy,” Sundar Pichai, Google CEO said.
The investment includes the Topaz subsea cable, which will be ready for service in 2023 according to Google and is the first fibre cable to connect Japan with the west coast of Canada.
Google also says it will be committing US$6 million to support Japanese nonprofits working to expand the benefits of technology.
And according to a recent Analysys Mason study, Google’s network infrastructure investments in Japan, both past and present, could enable an additional $303 billion in GDP between 2022 and 2026.
As part of this effort, it will be providing grant funding to the Japanese Foundation for Aging and Health to help them reach 50,000 older people with a mix of programmes focused on digital training, community building and employment support.
