Apollo to back $15 billion AI infrastructure project in Japan

Apollo Global Management is set to provide financing for a $15 billion AI infrastructure project in Japan, accelerating the private asset firm’s push into the artificial intelligence sphere.

The New York-based company intends to serve as a strategic investment and financing partner for U.K. developer RHAELM Holdings, which is teaming up with Jera, Japan’s largest power generator, and Dell Technologies on the venture in Chiba Prefecture, according to a statement on Thursday.

The project, aimed at strengthening Japan’s domestic AI capacity, is expected to involve more than $15 billion in capital deployed across land, power infrastructure, construction and computing. Operations are slated to start around 2028, and it will be powered by as much as 400 megawatts of electricity with help from Jera’s nearby thermal power station.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has pledged to bolster the nation’s AI supply chain in a bid to boost its manufacturing industry. Her government unveiled a ¥102 trillion ($644 billion) investment plan aimed at AI and semiconductors earlier this year.

Apollo is already involved in financing for AI infrastructure projects by the likes of Nvidia, Broadcom and Anthropic.

The U.S. investment firm has been expanding in Japan and recently tapped a former senior salesperson from Goldman Sachs Group to deepen its ties with domestic institutions. Its Asia-Pacific chief, Eiji Ueda, who joined last year from Japan’s biggest pension fund, is based in Tokyo.

“This announcement includes two of our highest conviction themes at Apollo — financing the global industrial renaissance including AI and digital infrastructure, as well as serving as a long-term capital partner to the Japanese market,” Ueda said in the statement.

Apollo has also boosted a loan to Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group to $9.2 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said last month, to help finance the Japanese company’s stake in ChatGPT creator OpenAI.