Japan designates 18 regions as green transformation strategy areas

The industry ministry said Friday that it has selected 18 regions as green transformation strategy areas.

The ministry will support the regions by easing regulations on land use and providing subsidies, aiming to attract companies and investment from Japan and abroad as part of efforts to strengthen the industrial competitiveness of regional economies.

Demand for data centers is growing with the spread of generative artificial intelligence, while operating them requires enormous amounts of electricity.

The ministry aims to attract large-scale data centers requiring around 1 gigawatt of power to regions rich in decarbonized energy sources to revitalize domestic investment and local industries.

The ministry designated nine of the 18 regions as areas for concentrating data centers. In Hokkaido, 11 firms including Japanese telecommunications company NTT East operate one of Japan’s largest data centers powered by renewable energy in the city of Ishikari.

Akita Prefecture, where a U.S. company and others plan to build a data center with an investment of around ¥2 trillion, was also selected.

The city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture was designated as an area for developing new industries on the site of a former industrial complex. Meanwhile, eight areas including Niigata Prefecture, were selected as regions for utilizing decarbonized power sources, to attract industries to areas around nuclear power plants.

The 18 regions were selected from 38 locations identified as promising by a screening committee in April.

“We will work together with the remaining promising regions to refine their plans,” industry minister Ryosei Akazawa told a news conference Friday, indicating that additional areas could be designated.