SoftBank to manufacture large-scale batteries for AI data centres at former Sharp plant
Target output is one gigawatt-hour a year. Partners are South Korea’s Cosmos Lab and DeltaX. Production opens for the fiscal year starting next April, with zinc-halide chemistry following in 2027.
SoftBank Group’s mobile-services subsidiary will begin manufacturing large-scale battery cells at the Sakai, Osaka site that once belonged to Sharp, the company said on Sunday, targeting roughly one gigawatt-hour per year of output once the line is at scale.
The plant supplies storage for the AI data centres SoftBank is already building, and for grid, industrial, and residential customers beyond that.
The conversion has been signalled since April, when SoftBank confirmed that the 440,000-square-metre former LCD factory it bought for about ¥100 billion would house Japan’s largest battery production line.
The Sunday disclosure sharpens the timeline. Mass production begins in the fiscal year starting April 2026, in partnership with two South Korean firms: Cosmos Lab, which contributes zinc-halide cell chemistry,...
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