• SoftBank Corp’s Singapore arm explores AI datacentre partnerships across SE Asia
• It is working with partners for the development of new AI factories in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and more
• SoftBank Corp reported a strong fiscal Q1 underpinned by AI and cloud services growth
• Net income increased by 3% while total revenues grew by 9.4%

Japanese telco SoftBank Corp has struck a memorandum of understanding with SC Capital Partners’ datacentre arm and consultant Robust HPC to begin exploring the commission of datacentre facilities in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and more.

Through its subsidiary SB Telecom Singapore, Softbank will be responsible for the data fit out and ICT infrastructure integration, as well as the connectivity, at any of the facilities the partners opt to develop. SC Zeus, which is part of SC Capital, will be tasked with sourcing land and designing, building and operating the infrastructure, while Robust HPC will manage procurement.

While the MoU is non-binding, should they proceed, the partners will look to build out AI Factory solutions across Southeast Asia, exploring GPU-as-a-service and AI Token Factory commercial models. The planned facilities will feature liquid cooling infrastructure, 800 VDC (volts direct current) architecture, and low-latency networking.

“This alliance marks a monumental step in accelerating digital transformation across Southeast Asia,” said Hisao Inoue, managing director of SB Telecom Singapore.“By unifying our robust ICT connectivity with SC Zeus’s specialised infrastructure capabilities and Robust HPC’s advanced supercomputing expertise, we are uniquely positioned to deliver the massively scalable, real-time computing environments essential for the future of AI.”

AI and cloud growth

The MoU was unveiled as SoftBank Corp reported that its fiscal first quarter net income had grown by 3% to 150.1bn yen ($950m) as a result of a 9.4% growth in revenues to 1.8tn yen ($11.5bn), the company’s highest ever quarterly sales figure. 

SoftBank credited the increase in revenue to strong demand for its AI and cloud services, which helped grow enterprise sales by 11.4% to 260bn yen ($1.7bn) and operating income by 27.5% to 62.2bn ($395m).

During its earnings call on Tuesday, SoftBank CEO Junichi Miyakawa revealed that AI and cloud revenues had grown by 31%, which highlights why the company – and its subsidiaries – are investing in AI datacentres.

“Over the past years we have made significant investments in AI. In this fiscal year, we are entering the monetisation phase of those investments," he explained, reiterating the main message of the company's AI-centric strategy that was unveiled in May.

Miyakawa also discussed SB Neo, the US neocloud announced at the start of July that will see SoftBank Corp working alongside its parent company, SoftBank Group, to establish an AI-first datacentre operator in the US. SB Neo’s business will leverage the SoftBank Group’s infrastructure, and expand in phases, he added.

Though SoftBank’s AI and cloud growth was the highlight of the quarter that ended on 30 June, Miyakawa was also keen to point to growth in other areas, including its consumer services (mobile, broadband and electricity), where service revenues grew 4% to 564.8bn yen ($3.6bn).

However, it wasn’t all good news as operating income for its consumer business (including equipment sales) dipped by 0.6% to 152.9 billion yen ($970m), despite revenue growth of 4.4% to almost 750bn yen ($4.75bn).

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV