Singaporean telco Singtel and Japanese giant Hitachi are partnering to develop data centers in Japan.

The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on “next-generation data centers and GPU cloud” in Japan and potentially the wider Asia Pacific region under the lead of Singtel's Digital InfraCo unit.

The companies said the partnership will combine Singtel’s data center and connectivity expertise and technology platforms with Hitachi green power solutions, cooling systems, storage infrastructure, and data management.

Singtel carved out a new business unit, Digital InfraCo, last year as part of a restructure. Its portfolio includes its regional data center unit Nxera, subsea cable and satellite businesses, and the Paragon orchestration platform. Digital InfraCo plans to launch a GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) offering later this year.

Under the MoU, the companies said they will explore opportunities to develop data centers across Japan and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. Further details weren’t shared.

Singtel’s Nxera has 62MW of existing capacity in Singapore and is developing more than 200MW of capacity across APAC – but to date has not announced any projects in Japan.

Hitachi will also explore using Singtel’s GPUaaS for its internal AI applications and workloads.

Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel’s Digital InfraCo, said: “Our strategic partnership with Hitachi, a leader in digital systems and services fields, opens up new opportunities in a strategically important and expanding Japanese market. Building a strong ecosystem of partners has always been a priority at Singtel to better serve our customers and broaden our global reach."

He continued: "We look forward to bringing our collective expertise, digital assets, and solutions to help more enterprises innovate and transform their businesses and operations through the cloud and AI. As we scale our digital capabilities with our partners like Hitachi, we aim to become a leader in the Asia Pacific region.”

In June 2024 the two companies partnered to trial and integrate Singtel’s Paragon platform with Hitachi’s AI applications for Hitachi’s manufacturing operations as well as enterprise customers.

Toshiaki Tokunaga, EVP and executive officer at Hitachi, added: “We are delighted to embark on this mission through our strategic alliance with Singtel. By combining Singtel's expertise in the development and operation of sustainable data centers with the comprehensive capabilities of the Hitachi Group, ranging from green power solutions to facility and data management, we aim to enable companies to utilize data centers in an intelligent and environmentally conscious manner; ultimately achieving continuous innovation while promoting sustainability.”

Hitachi, a conglomerate operating across a number of industries, offers its own cloud computing services in Japan, including a sovereign cloud.