SoftBank Corp. and NVIDIA Collaborating on Next-generation Data Centers

At the earnings briefing for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2023 (FY2022) held on May 10, 2023, SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) President & CEO Junichi Miyakawa unveiled a new long-term vision that positions SoftBank as a provider of next-generation social infrastructure.

Miyakawa noted that, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, demand for data processing and electricity requirements will rapidly increase, and that building super-distributed computing infrastructure will be key to addressing a fundamental issue – the overconcentration of data processing and power consumption in Japan’s urban areas.

In a step forward to provide next-generation infrastructure that helps realize a super-digitalized society in Japan, SoftBank and NVIDIA unveiled a new collaboration.

Teaming up on a platform for generative AI and 5G/6G applications

On May 29, 2023, NVIDIA and SoftBank announced they are collaborating on a platform for generative AI and 5G/6G applications that is based on the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper™ Superchip. The companies also said that SoftBank plans to roll out this platform at new, distributed AI data centers across Japan.

In collaboration with NVIDIA, SoftBank will build data centers that can host generative AI and wireless applications on a multitenant common server platform that is also expected to reduce costs and be more energy efficient.

For more detail, see this press release from SoftBank and NVIDIA.