Sharp to Convert LCD Panel Factory into AI Data Center

According to TapTechNews on June 3rd, The Nikkei reported that Sharp's large LCD panel factory, Sakai Display Devices, will be converted into an artificial intelligence data center.

The Japanese operator KDDI will build and operate a data center network on the site of Sharp's LCD panel factory in Sakai City near Osaka, and the factory is set to close later this year.

Sharp invested approximately 430 billion yen (TapTechNews note: currently about 19.866 billion Chinese yuan) to build the Sakai City factory in 2009, but currently the factory is facing difficulties in operation. Sharp stated in a press conference that the factory will close by September this year.

Sharp and KDDI agreed to start negotiations with other partners including the Japanese system developer Datasection on establishing a joint venture for the data center, and details of the investment scale and ownership allocation have not been determined yet.

This AI data center will procure approximately 1000 servers equipped with next-generation NVIDIA GPUs (such as the Blackwell series), and this data center will be provided to the developers of large language models in the future.

These servers will be purchased through Datasection, which has established a partnership with the American server manufacturer SuperMicroComputer.