Blackstone-backed AirTrunk has announced an additional $1 billion investment in its 300-plus-megawatt hyperscale data centre campus in Inzai, Japan, to enable AI workloads.

The money will fund liquid-cooling technology needed for power-hungry AI servers. AirTrunk has secured a $1 billion green loan led by SMBC, MUFG and UOB to finance the expansion.

CEO Robin Khuda said the TOK1 campus is likely to be the first in Japan with large-scale AI workload deployment. He added that geopolitical factors are pushing more customers to look at Japan from a North Asian perspective, as building AI infrastructure gets harder in the US and Europe.

The announcement adds to a wave of data centre investment in Japan. Blackstone disclosed plans in June to invest $30 billion in Japanese AI data centres over three to five years through AirTrunk, while Microsoft, AWS and Mitsubishi Estate have all announced multi-billion-dollar programmes.

Industry watchers say Japan’s stable power grid, land availability and government support make it Asia’s hottest data centre market. With AI demand showing no signs of slowing, the build-out is expected to continue for years.