THE Japan, the new Eldorado of AI and the cloud? That's what the tech giants seem to believe. This week, Oracle announced that it plans to invest more than $8 billion over the next ten years to meet the growing demand for cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan. “The investment will increase the footprint of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) across Japan,” assures the American provider.
Oracle also hopes to meet the growing demand for digital sovereignty by expanding its operations and supporting engineering teams with staff based in Japan. Toshimitsu Misawa, director and president of Oracle's Japanese subsidiary, declared: “By expanding our cloud footprint and providing a team to support sovereign operations in Japan, we are giving our customers and partners the opportunity to innovate with AI and other cloud services while supporting their regulatory requirements and sovereignty.”
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Oracle is betting big on sovereignty needs
Concretely, this translates into an increase in local customer support for its public cloud regions in Tokyo and Osaka and its local operations teams for Oracle Alloy and OCI Dedicated Region. “Oracle’s sovereign cloud and AI services can be delivered securely within a country’s borders or within an organization’s premises, with a range of operational controls,” assures the American firm.
For the record, with its set of OCI cloud services, users can run all these services in their own data centers with OCI Dedicated Region, while partners can resell OCI's cloud services and customize the experience on the go. Oracle Alloy help. Oracle also claims that its 49 public cloud regions serve organizations of any size and does not hesitate to take the example of the European Union with which it has signed a contract so that the latter can use its public cloud.
Japan, the promised land of the cloud and AI?
Larry Ellison's firm is not the only one to conquer Japan. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced plans to invest as much as $2.9 billion in the country. “Today’s announcement represents Microsoft’s largest investment in Japan since we took root there in 1978. These investments in digital infrastructure, AI skills, cybersecurity and AI research are essential ingredients for Japan to build a robust AI economy,” commented Brad Smith, vice-president of Microsoft.
The envelope must support the development of its cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Japan. At the same time, the Redmond firm also plans to develop its digital skills programs with the aim of providing AI skills to more than 3 million people over the next three years.
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The announcement is part of the – broader – strategy of the United States to strengthen ties with Japan in the face of the growing Chinese threat. The two countries agreed to strengthen their cooperation in terms of artificial intelligence, but also defense and energy.
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