GMO to Open 100% Renewable Energy Data Center in Hokkaido

GMO Internet, along with East Japan Railway and Broadband Tower, will open a new data center in Hokkaido, Japan, powered by 100% renewable energy. The data center, called the Hokkaido Renewable Energy Data Center No. 1, will be located in the city of Ishikari and will be operational by 2026. The data center will be powered by renewable energy generated by a local power plant owned by East Japan Railway. The new data center will be a new location for GMO Internet’s GPU cloud service, which will provide high-performance computing for AI development. The data center will also utilize the IOWN APN (All-Photonics Network) provided by NTT East Japan, which will enable low-latency and high-capacity communication between Tokyo and the data center in Hokkaido. This will solve the problem of communication latency that is unique to remote data centers. The new data center will provide a sustainable AI infrastructure that combines the benefits of renewable energy, geographical distribution, and the IOWN APN. GMO Internet’s executive officer, Katsuhiko Nakatani, commented that the new data center will provide customers with high-performance computing without compromising on environmental sustainability and business continuity.