UAE’s Mubadala weighs $6.3 billion AI data center investment in Japan

Mubadala Investment Co., one of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign wealth funds, is considering pouring up to ¥1 trillion, roughly $6.3 billion, into building an AI data center in Japan’s Akita prefecture. The facility would pack 500 megawatts of capacity and is targeting an operational launch in the early 2030s. What Mubadala is actually building The project is being developed by US startup BitGrid in collaboration with Japanese IT firm S2. Mubadala’s involvement would come through MGX, the UAE’s dedicated AI investment vehicle that launched in March 2024 with ambitions to aggregate over $100 billion in assets spanning AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and core technologies. MGX has been on something of a shopping spree. In July 2026, it completed the acquisition of Aligned Data Centers. It’s also reportedly in negotiations around a potential buyout of Singapore-based DayOne, which operates data center assets in Japan as well. Japan has been actively courting foreign investment in data center infrastructure, leaning on two key advantages: abundant renewable energy resources and government policies that encourage decentralized computing facilities outside of major urban centers. Akita ...