GoKawiilMicrosoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (L) and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pose before their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026.
Shares of Sakura Internet surged as much as 20.2% Friday after Microsoft said it has begun discussions with the Japanese cloud company and SoftBank to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in Japan.
Microsoft said it plans to invest $10 billion in Japan between 2026 and 2029 to build AI infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity and train 1 million engineers and developers by 2030.
Sakura Internet, which provides internet infrastructure services using domestic data centers, and Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. will partner with Microsoft to provide AI computing resources, including graphics processing units located in Japan.
The announcement came during a visit to Japan by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, who met Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Smith said the investment comes as demand for cloud and AI services grows in Japan. Around one in five working-age people in the country use generative AI tools, compared with the global average of about one in six, according to Microsoft's AI Diffusion Report.