CBRE Facilitates KDDI's Acquisition of Sharp's Sakai Plant for Data Center Development

TOKYO, May 12, 2025 - CBRE Japan, headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, provided comprehensive support to KDDI Corporation in acquiring Sharp Corporation's LCD-related factory located in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. CBRE’s suite of services included property due diligence, price assessments, and transaction advisory, culminating in the successful closing of the deal on April 4, 2025.

The acquired property comprised of the land and buildings of the former color filter production facility within Sharp's "Green Front Sakai," owned by Sharp Corporation and its subsidiary, Sakai Display Products Corporation. KDDI plans to convert the site area, which spans 33,000 square meters and has a total floor area of 57,000 square meters, into a data center. CBRE assessed the development plan of the existing facility, price assessments  based on surrounding real estate transactions, and provided brokerage services for the purchase of the land and existing facility, thereby facilitating the conclusion of the purchase contract.

The data center, slated for full operation within 2025, will be a large-scale facility equipped with the latest GPUs (graphics processing units) and is expected to support the development generative AI and AI-related businesses.

The project manager at KDDI stated, "During negotiations and adjustments involving multiple stakeholders, we received quick solutions from CBRE representatives, which helped us move forward efficiently. We aim to maximize the potential of this large-scale data center as a foundation for the growth of AI."

Hirokazu Ono, Head of Data Center Solutions Japan at CBRE, commented, "The goal was to transform the factory into a data center, which involved numerous technical challenges. By leveraging CBRE's expertise in data center services and maintaining close communication and mutual trust with KDDI, we successfully completed the acquisition of the facility in less than a year. Our integrated services, from property investigation to purchase, enabled us to meet the client's strong demands while maintaining confidentiality. CBRE remains committed to leading our clients through diverse and advanced data center projects."


For inquiries on this project, please contact:
CBRE K.K. Advisory & Transaction Services Head of Data Center Solutions Japan, 
Hirokazu Ono [email protected]



About CBRE Data Center Solutions 
CBRE Data Center Solutions provides comprehensive support to operators and investors in the data center real estate sector, from strategy formulation for investment and development, acquisition of land and buildings, to operation, management, and sale. During the planning and transaction phases, we offer investment strategy support and consulting services, and handle real estate transactions (buying, selling, and leasing of land and buildings). In the development phase, we support various management tasks such as vendor management, schedule management, quality management, and cost management. In the operation phase, we implement facility management including repair planning, server room construction, and maintenance of air conditioning and electrical systems.

Download PDF