Japan Data Center Update 31: J-Power Enters Data Center Business by Leveraging Its Own Renewable Assets

J-Power enters data center business with 400 kW containerized facility in Hokkaido

J-Power, a major Japanese power generation company, announced that it will launch a containerized data center business in Kaminokuni Town, Hokkaido, marking its first data center project. It will build the Kaminokuni Data Center (tentative name), with a capacity of approximately 400 kW. Mirait One, a major telecommunications engineering company, will serve as the EPC contractor, using a containerized data center design that it has deployed in previous projects. Compared with conventional building-based data centers, Mirait One’s facility will be smaller and require a shorter construction period. J-Power expects companies and research institutions that develop or use generative AI to be its primary customers, and aims to launch services in summer 2027.

Additionally, J-Power aims to operate the data center using renewable energy, including wind power. The J-Power Group owns two onshore wind farms in Kaminokuni: the 28 MW Kaminokuni Wind Farm and the 41.53 MW Kaminokuni No. 2 Wind Farm.

Mirait One unveils Japan’s first AALC-equipped containerized data center

Mirait One’s containerized data center fits into three parking spaces (Source: Mirait One).

Mirait One unveiled the first commercial unit of its 20-foot liquid-cooled containerized data center equipped with Delta Electronics’ Air Assisted Liquid Cooling (AALC) technology. AALC is an advanced technology that uses an air-conditioning system to cool the liquid coolant. Mirait One will test the configuration of high-performance GPU servers ahead of the facility’s planned launch in September. This is the first data center in Japan equipped with AALC.

The AALC system circulates warm and cold water as well as warm and cold air. Mirait One introduced the liquid-cooled containerized data center because increasingly powerful GPUs used for generative AI and inference require more electricity and can no longer be cooled effectively using air cooling alone. The company said liquid cooling can reduce power consumption by up to 80% compared with air cooling.