SoftBank has launched a battery manufacturing business in Japan, geared towards supporting power infrastructure for the rising electricity demands associated with AI deployments.
The initiative forms part of the company’s broader strategy to address increased energy consumption as AI technologies expand across sectors.
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Production will be based at the Osaka Sakai AI Data Center on the former Sharp factory site in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture.
SoftBank plans to launch mass production of battery cells and battery energy storage systems (BESS) from the fiscal year ending March 2028, with manufacturing targets set at the gigawatt (GW)-hour scale per annum.
The company has formalised two major collaborations to advance the new venture.
In partnership with South Korea’s Cosmos Lab, led by CEO Ju-Hyuk Lee, SoftBank is developing battery cells that combine safety characteristics and energy storage performance.
Cosmos Lab’s zinc-halogen battery uses pure water as the electrolyte, eliminating many of the fire risks linked to lithium-ion solutions. The companies are aiming for a mass production timeline starting around Fiscal Year 2027 (FY2027).
A separate collaboration with DeltaX headed by CEO Stephen Kim, focuses on developing energy storage systems. It will employ DeltaX’s proprietary Cell Connecting System (CCS) design and Cell to Pack (CTP) technology.
These technologies are expected to optimise the performance of battery cells while integrating an energy management system (EMS) developed by SoftBank.
The EMS will utilise AI-driven power demand forecasting, with production at a GW-hour scale targeted for the same period.
SoftBank intends to deploy its domestically manufactured batteries at its existing and planned AI data centres, including the facility in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
The business expects to achieve annual domestic revenues exceeding ¥100bn ($639m) by FY2030.
SoftBank is set to invest ¥1tn ($6.4bn) in AI-related businesses, including data centres and batteries, through March 2029.
