Dell Joins $15 Billion Japan AI Data Center Project as AI Infrastructure Spending Keeps Surging

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) is joining a more than $15 billion AI data center plan in Japan designed to sidestep one of the biggest constraints on the AI buildout: getting enough electricity to computing infrastructure quickly. Japan’s JERA, Dell and UK developer RHAELM said Thursday they signed a memorandum of understanding covering a facility of up to 400 megawatts beside JERA’s Chiba Thermal Power Station near Tokyo. Dell would supply the rack-scale computing infrastructure. Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE:APO) plans to support RHAELM as an investment and financing partner. The more than $15 billion figure covers land, power infrastructure, construction and computing equipment rather than a Dell contract of that size. The Power Plant Is the Point "The keyword is speed to power," JERA Global CEO Yukio Kani told the Financial Times. The Chiba facility would sit beside JERA’s existing 4,380 MW power station. That would allow the data center to draw electricity directly from the site rather than wait for a conventional grid connection. JERA says the model could bring computing capacity online years earlier than a traditional development. The partners are targeting a 2028 start, with full capacity expected in 2029. Dell’s AI Business Keeps Growing Dell is already seeing extraordinary demand for AI infrastructure. The company’s AI-server orders reached a record $60.9 billion in its latest quarter, while AI-server revenue hit $16.4 billion. Dell ended the period with a $95 billion AI-server backlog and now expects $74 billion in fiscal 2027 AI-server revenue. A Template for Japan Chiba is intended to be more than a one-off development. JERA, Dell and RHAELM want to create a standardized model that could be rolled out at other JERA power stations, eventually supporting multiple gigawatts of AI infrastructure across Japan. The FT reported the broader plan could involve roughly $140 billion of investment and 3 to 4 gigawatts of data center and power infrastructure over five years. Prediction market traders see little chance the AI buildout cracks this year. A Polymarket contract prices an AI-industry downturn by Dec. 31 at about 9%, with roughly $3 million traded. It only pays out if at least three triggers hit, such as Nvidia falling 50% from its record high or OpenAI or Anthropic declaring bankruptcy. Dell shares rose about 1% to $545 in Thursday premarket trading. Image: Shutterstock Read Also: Space Insurer on What Starship’s First Orbital Flight Means for SpaceX and the Space Economy