NTT Data Group is in the final stages of talks to build a data centre in Osaka, western Japan, for Anthropic, the Nikkei business daily reported on 13 October 2026, citing multiple sources, according to Reuters. The report says construction costs could reach up to 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion).
It would be Anthropic’s first dedicated facility in Japan, according to the report. NTT declined to comment, and NTT Group was not immediately available for comment, Reuters said; we found no announcement on Anthropic’s newsroom on 13 October 2026.
Business Pill · LEAD TIME
A one-minute explainer of lead time: the gap between committing to something and having it in hand. It teaches the general idea only and says nothing about any company in this story.
The key insight: As we read it, the reported timeline is the story inside the number: an agreement targeted by 31 March 2027 and partial operations from as early as 2028 means capacity planned now arrives years later, so a lab has to commit to a site long before it knows the demand it will serve.
The data centre would have a power intake capacity of up to 500 megawatts, with partial operations starting as early as 2028, Reuters reported, citing the Nikkei.
NTT Data and Anthropic aim to sign an agreement by the end of fiscal 2026, which ends on 31 March, according to the same report. In calendar terms, that is a target of 31 March 2027.
Nikkei Asia’s own headline puts it as “NTT to build first data center for Anthropic in Japan”, and its standfirst says the facility “could cost $6.3bn to construct, with partial opening by 2028.” A photo caption on the article says it would have one of the largest processing capacities in the country.
Reuters describes NTT Data Group as a unit of the telecommunications group NTT.
The reported terms of Anthropic’s first dedicated data centre in Japan: construction costs of up to 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion), up to 500 megawatts of power intake, partial operations from as early as 2028 and an agreement targeted by 31 March 2027, as the Nikkei reported and Reuters relayed on 13 October 2026. The talks are not a signed deal.
Anthropic in Japan So Far
Anthropic opened its first Asia-Pacific office in Tokyo in late October 2025, according to its announcement of 29 October 2025. In the same post it said it had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Japan AI Safety Institute, and chief executive Dario Amodei said the company sees Japan “as a vital hub for growing our business.”
In August 2025 Anthropic appointed Hidetoshi Tojo, previously Snowflake’s Japan country manager, as Head of Japan, and named Rakuten, NRI and Panasonic as companies already using Claude, according to its announcement of 6 August 2025.
Those posts describe an office, a team and customers. As we read it, the reported Osaka facility would add something those posts do not mention: computing capacity of Anthropic’s own in the country, which the Nikkei Asia caption says would be among the largest there.
What the Nikkei report states, as Reuters relayed it on 13 October 2026, and what is not stated in what we read. NTT declined to comment, according to Reuters.
As we read it, a facility costing up to 1 trillion yen in Osaka would be a different kind of commitment from those reported compute commitments: a site planned for one customer, in one country, built by a domestic IT group.
The Structural Read
The report puts a cost of up to 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) and up to 500 megawatts of power intake on a single facility, with partial operations from as early as 2028, Reuters reported, citing the Nikkei.
As we read it, the sequence matters for a buyer of compute: sign by 31 March 2027, open part of the site from 2028 at the earliest. The gap between the commitment and the first capacity is the lead time a lab has to plan around.
Anthropic’s own posts describe a Tokyo office, a Head of Japan and named customers. As we read it, a dedicated facility would move its Japan presence from sales and partnerships to physical capacity.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, in Anthropic’s Tokyo office announcement (29 Oct 2025)
“Itโs how we view the world, and itโs the reason we see Japan as a vital hub for growing our business.”
Three Implications
ANTHROPIC The Nikkei report, as Reuters relayed it, says the Osaka site would be Anthropic’s first dedicated facility in Japan, with up to 500 megawatts of power intake.
NTT DATA NTT Data Group is in the final stages of talks to build it, according to the report; NTT declined to comment, Reuters said.
CUSTOMERS IN JAPAN Anthropic’s August 2025 post named Rakuten, NRI and Panasonic as companies already using Claude.
The framework sets its own question this way: “This piece is about the financing. How the money flows, where it cracks, what it buys, who can absorb it, and what happens when revenue can’t catch up.”
As we read it, a facility costing up to 1 trillion yen for one lab is a clear case of “what it buys”: dedicated capacity in a country where Anthropic so far has an office and customers, with the builder, not the lab, named in the report.
What Is Not Established
We read the Reuters report as published by CNA, and only the visible portion of the Nikkei Asia article, which is paywalled; we did not read the Nikkei article in full. Lease or offtake terms, the chip supplier, how the build is financed, and how much of the capacity Anthropic would use are not stated in what we read.
Anthropic is not quoted in the reports we read, and we found no announcement of the talks on Anthropic’s newsroom on 13 October 2026.
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NTT Data Group is in the final stages of talks to build Anthropic’s first dedicated data centre in Japan, in Osaka, the Nikkei reported, according to Reuters. Construction costs could reach up to 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion), with up to 500 megawatts of power intake and partial operations from as early as 2028. The companies aim to sign by 31 March 2027, according to the report; NTT declined to comment.
A note on sourcing. The talks and their reported terms are from the Nikkei business daily as Reuters reported it on 13 October 2026; we read the Reuters report in full as published by CNA that day, and only the visible portion of the Nikkei Asia article, which is paywalled. NTT declined to comment, according to Reuters; we found no announcement on Anthropic’s newsroom on 13 October 2026.
Background on Anthropic in Japan is from its own posts of 6 August and 29 October 2025. Nothing here is a forecast, and nothing here is financial or investment advice.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur, HackerNoon and Search Engine People. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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