Japan’s government preferential debt for local banks will greatly aid its data centre boom.

Japan's trade ministry has proposed letting megabanks and regional banks borrow long-term, low-rate state money through Japan Finance Corporation, with the state covering part of any defaults, starting in fiscal 2027. This will result in much cheaper debt for hyperscalers and AI investments, to fill Japan’s data centre build out needs, currently estimated by Nikkei to be about ¥10 trillion ($60 billion) through 2033. Big winners include SoftBank and NTT DATA carry the largest debt needs: about ¥1 trillion at Sakai and ¥1.5 trillion by 2033. Foreign firms such as Microsoft, Oracle and AWS largely fund their own sites, so they gain less directly. Moreover, as foreigners, they are far more likely to be overlooked for land leases.