SoftBank Completes the Puzzle in Japan with its "Algorithmic Electricity Collaboration" Strategy: Seeks to Invest in Tokyo Electric Power Company, Deepening Efforts to Combat AI "Energy Anxiety"

SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son revealed at the annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday that the group's telecommunications subsidiary is seeking to acquire a stake in Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Japan's largest electric power company, to ensure the electricity supply needed for its rapid expansion in the field of artificial intelligence. He stated that bringing TEPCO into SoftBank's realm would help the company enter the artificial intelligence data center sector, which requires a significant amount of electricity. Son's "AI-Electricity Coordination": Energy Anxiety in the AI Empire SoftBank is one of the most important supporters in the global field of artificial intelligence. With investments in entities like OpenAI at its core, SoftBank is expanding its business through data centers, semiconductors, and Siasun Robot & Automation. Son previously stated, "Full commitment to AI, making a full-scale attack." However, the expansion of AI data centers is facing a fundamental bottleneck - electricity. The high-energy computing required for training and inference of artificial intelligence models poses unprecedented demands for stable and large-scale electricity supply. Son has publicly stated that SoftBank is exploring multiple data center projects in Texas and revealed that a large data center project in Ohio is expected to bring in "huge" profits. The acquisition of TEPCO is aimed at addressing this "energy anxiety." TEPCO is Japan's largest electric power company, controlling a vast electric grid and power assets covering the Tokyo metropolitan area and surrounding regions. Bringing TEPCO into SoftBank's portfolio means that SoftBank will gain a stable and large-scale power supply capability in Japan - a crucial infrastructure for operating AI data centers. The other party in this potential transaction, TEPCO, is currently facing financial difficulties. In January 26, 2026, the Japanese government approved TEPCO's latest business restructuring plan, with the goal of reducing costs by 3.1 trillion yen (approximately $200 billion) over the next ten fiscal years from 2025 to 2034. Restructuring measures include streamlining operations, cutting investments, and selling around 200 billion yen of stocks and real estate assets within three years. In the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year (ending in March 2026), TEPCO recorded a huge extraordinary loss of 976.2 billion yen, including 905.6 billion yen in disaster-related losses and 70.6 billion yen in nuclear damage compensation expenses. The cleanup costs of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident continue to rise. TEPCO had earlier this year solicited proposals from potential partners, seeking capital cooperation to reverse its business downturn. SoftBank's acquisition offer is made in this context. The strategic value of TEPCO far exceeds its market value of 46 billion dollars. As Japan's largest electric power company, TEPCO controls the electric grid of the capital region, large-scale transmission capacity, substation and distribution systems, as well as nuclear and thermal power infrastructure. For any company wishing to build large-scale AI data centers around Tokyo, TEPCO's access to the electric grid is an indispensable infrastructure ticket. At the shareholders meeting, Son clearly stated that if the acquisition of TEPCO is successful, the group will build data centers in Tokyo. This statement directly addresses the core bottleneck of the AI industry - electricity supply. The power consumption of AI data centers is growing exponentially, and Tokyo and its surrounding areas, as Japan's largest market for computing power demand, are facing an increasingly severe bottleneck effect in electricity supply. Global Layout: SoftBank's "AI Infrastructure Empire" from Ohio to Paris The acquisition of TEPCO is not the only move SoftBank is making to address its energy challenges, it is also a key piece in its global "AI-Electricity Coordination" strategy. In the United States, SoftBank is planning a massive data center infrastructure project in Ohio, with a total investment of up to $500 billion and a planned capacity of 10 gigawatts. The project is located in a former uranium enrichment facility owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. SoftBank plans to build approximately $33 billion worth of natural gas power plants by the end of 2028. OpenAI is in deep discussions with SoftBank's subsidiary SB Energy, planning to lease the data center campus with a 20-year lease. In Europe, SoftBank announced last month its plans to invest up to 75 billion euros (about $85 billion) to build a 5 gigawatt AI data center in France. Son stated that France is expected to become a top AI infrastructure center in Europe. In Japan, if the acquisition of TEPCO is successful, SoftBank will build AI data centers in Tokyo. Son clearly stated, "Ultimately, I believe we should further expand in Japan...We are actively preparing for many projects that will bring huge profits." Crossing Borders to Make Batteries: SoftBank's "Energy Self-Sufficiency" Experiment The acquisition of TEPCO is not SoftBank's only move in the energy sector. SoftBank is transitioning from being a "power consumer" to a "power producer." SoftBank is also strengthening its energy security by producing its own storage batteries. In May of this year, SoftBank's mobile division announced plans to start large-scale battery production at the former Sharp factory site in Sakai, Osaka prefecture. SoftBank will set up two specialized factories there - the AX factory focusing on AI data center operations and AI infrastructure hardware manufacturing, and the GX factory focusing on next-generation batteries, CECEP Solar Energy panels, and energy storage product production. SoftBank is collaborating with South Korean companies Cosmos Lab and DeltaX with the goal of reaching an annual 1 gigawatt-hour storage system production by the fiscal year 2028, making it one of the largest factories of its kind in Japan. SoftBank has set a target to achieve over 100 billion yen in annual revenue by the fiscal year 2030. The produced storage systems will be supplied to nearby AI data centers and will improve the local grid's capacity. SoftBank also plans to apply the battery products to grid peak shaving, factories, residences, and other scenarios. The logic behind this layout is clear and direct: the power demand of AI data centers is growing exponentially, while Japan's grid expansion is far behind. Instead of waiting for power companies to expand, SoftBank is producing its own storage devices to address local power peak load problems. Furthermore, solar power + storage is currently the most cost-effective way of generating electricity, easy to expand, and can cover any location. It has a construction speed far exceeding all other energy sources, and the number of ongoing projects with solar power + storage exceeds the total of all other energy sources; solar power + storage will ensure reliable grid operation, reduce energy costs, and keep the innovation engine running continuously. Energy Competition in the AI Era: A Larger Game Masayoshi Son's plan to acquire TEPCO, when viewed in the larger context of the global AI competition, has deeper significance. Global AI giants are scrambling for power resources. Microsoft has signed a nuclear power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy; Google has partnered with nuclear startup Kairos Power; and Amazon is also buying nuclear-powered data center parks. Electricity is becoming the "new oil" of AI computing. At the same time, Musk is advancing space-based data centers - millions of AI satellites in orbit form a huge computing network, using space's CECEP Solar Energy and vacuum environment to run AI models, thus solving the problems of power shortages and heat dissipation in ground data centers. However, at the shareholders meeting, Masayoshi Son poured cold water on Elon Musk's "space data center" concept. Son pointed out that the ultimate victory in the AI competition will depend on computation resources on Earth, not space facilities. He admitted that theoretically, space data centers could reduce electricity costs, but emphasized that electricity accounts for only about 7% of the total operating costs of AI data centers, much lower than hardware expenses such as chips. The cost of saving electricity includes space transportation costs, additional maintenance costs, and network delays. "In the future, the next few years are much more important than ten years later, having the advantage early will make you the winner." Son stated that SoftBank will focus on establishing powerful data centers on Earth. This statement essentially delineates the strategic path differences between SoftBank and SpaceX: Musk is betting on unlimited space energy, while Son is betting on existing ground power grids. The acquisition of TEPCO is the final move of the latter in the Japanese market. From this perspective, the acquisition of TEPCO is not just a simple financial investment, but the most critical "entry ticket" for SoftBank's global AI strategy. Without this ticket, SoftBank's investments of tens of billions of dollars in Ohio, USA, and the northern region of France cannot be duplicated in Japan. When Son said at the shareholders meeting, "We are still one of the best among many candidates," he was actually sending a signal to the market: SoftBank's AI expansion has entered the final "make-up" phase - filling in the energy infrastructure gap. SoftBank will transform from an "investor" in AI to an "infrastructure operator" of AI. Whether this union of "bits" and "watts" can be achieved will determine whether Japan can have its own "power moat" in the global AI competition. The situation in Japan is particularly unique. As an island nation with scarce resources, Japan's electricity supply has long relied on imported fossil fuels and nuclear power. In the context of large-scale construction of AI data centers, Japan's electricity deficit will sharply increase. Whoever controls the distribution of electricity in Japan will control the lifeline of Japan's AI infrastructure. Masayoshi Son clearly understands this. He said at the shareholders meeting, "If the acquisition is successful, I believe we should build data centers in Japan." The implication is: without access to TEPCO's electric grid, SoftBank's plans for large-scale data centers in Japan will be difficult to realize. In this sense, the acquisition of TEPCO is not just a simple financial investment, but it is SoftBank's most crucial "ticket" in Japan's market for its global AI strategy. Without this ticket, SoftBank's tens of billions of dollars investments in Ohio, USA, and the northern region of France cannot be replicated on Japanese soil. When Son said at the shareholders meeting that "We are still one of the best among many candidates," he was actually signaling to the market: SoftBank's AI expansion has entered the final "make-up" phase - filling in the energy infrastructure gap. SoftBank will transform from an "investor" in AI to an "infrastructure operator" of AI. Whether this union of "bits" and "watts" can be achieved will determine whether Japan can have its own "power moat" in the global AI competition.