SoftBank Moves Into Datacenter Battery Manufacturing With Gigawatt-Scale AI Power Push

SoftBank is positioning itself to manufacture large-scale battery systems designed specifically to power AI datacenters, marking a strategic pivot into energy infrastructure as power demand from artificial intelligence operations intensifies globally. The Japan-based investment firm has set a target of achieving gigawatt-hour-scale production capacity annually, with initial deployment focused on its own AI server farm operations before broader market availability.

The company has partnered with two South Korean firms: Cosmos Lab, which develops zinc-halogen batteries using pure water as an electrolyte, rendering them non-flammable, and DeltaX, a designer and manufacturer of battery-based energy storage systems. SoftBank plans to begin mass production in fiscal year 2027, projecting the operation will generate approximately ¥100 billion (over $600 million) in annual revenue by 2030. Last year, SoftBank acquired rights to a former Sharp LCD production facility, suggesting it is securing physical manufacturing infrastructure for this initiative.

The move signals SoftBank's intent to address a critical bottleneck in AI expansion: reliable, large-scale power delivery to datacenters. As AI workloads require increasingly dense computing resources, the availability of purpose-built energy storage solutions has become a limiting factor for infrastructure operators. By developing and controlling proprietary battery systems, SoftBank could reduce its dependency on external energy suppliers while potentially positioning itself as a supplier to other datacenter operators facing similar constraints.