JLL has advised on the sale of a 40.5 megawatt hyperscale data center in Greater Osaka for approximately $1 billion, marking the largest single-asset data center transaction in Japan's history. The Tier III facility changed hands in an all-cash deal valued at ¥156 billion, with Singapore-based CapitaLand Ascendas REIT acquiring the asset on a 100% consideration basis. A fund managed by a Japanese institutional investor holds the remaining interest in the facility.
The transaction underscores surging institutional appetite for operational digital infrastructure in Asia's second-largest economy. Ryuta Takeuchi, Head of Japan Capital Markets at JLL, characterised Japan as one of the most sought-after data center markets globally, citing its established economy, world-class energy infrastructure and supportive digital demographics. He noted that Osaka serves as a natural entry point for investors targeting the region.
Luke Jackson, Co-Head of Data Center Capital Markets for Asia Pacific at JLL, described the deal as evidence of a broader shift. "We're witnessing a surge of interest in marquee institutional investors actively looking to enter the Japanese and Asia Pacific data center market," Jackson said. "The Japanese data center market is at the forefront of the much-anticipated 'capital recycling phase' of stabilised, operational data center assets. This transaction highlights the surge in liquidity at this juncture for high-quality data center investment product."
JLL analysis positions Japan as the second-largest data center market among developed countries after the United States. The Japanese data center market generated $23.4 billion in revenue in 2024. Growth projections for the 2025-2030 period indicate an annual average growth rate of 6.7%, pushing market size to $33.4 billion by the end of the decade.
Multiple structural factors underpin Japan's appeal to data center allocators. The country's geographical positioning as a connectivity hub between North America and the Asia Pacific region creates inherent demand for low-latency infrastructure. Political stability, low power outage rates, highly developed fibre optic networks and abundant skilled labour further differentiate the market from regional peers. Domestic internet traffic growth and expanded artificial intelligence utilisation are driving near-term capacity absorption.
The Osaka transaction arrives as global data center fundamentals tighten across developed markets. According to JLL research, accelerating digital transformation, cloud computing adoption and the proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies are driving unprecedented growth in the global data center market. The firm projects that global data center capacity will need to expand significantly between now and 2030 to meet surging demand from hyperscale operators, enterprise users and emerging technologies.
Artificial intelligence workloads represent the sharpest inflection in demand composition. JLL expects AI workloads to account for 50% of total data center capacity by 2030, up from 25% in 2025. Meeting that demand will require approximately $3 trillion in total investments by the end of the decade, according to the firm's projections.
The Greater Osaka facility's 40.5 megawatt capacity and Tier III certification position it for hyperscale deployment, a segment where institutional capital has historically struggled to source stabilised, cash-flowing assets. The sale price implies a per-megawatt valuation in excess of $24 million, a benchmark that will inform pricing expectations for comparable assets across the Asia Pacific region. JLL advised the international seller on the disposal, facilitating the cross-border transaction between the vendor and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT.