Digital Realty has started construction on KIX15, a new 24MW data center at its KIX Campus in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The project marks the fifth building at the Osaka campus and extends the company’s investment in Japan’s growing digital infrastructure market. MC Digital Realty (MCDR), a 50/50 joint venture between Digital Realty and Mitsubishi Corporation, will develop the facility. The company expects KIX15 to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2028, bringing MCDR’s total IT capacity across Japan to 220MW.

Digital Realty Expands Its Osaka Data Center Footprint

KIX15 adds another phase of development to Digital Realty’s established presence in Japan, where demand for computing capacity increasingly intersects with artificial intelligence, cloud services and distributed enterprise infrastructure. The 24MW addition will expand the KIX Campus while giving customers another location within Japan’s digital infrastructure network. Osaka’s position in the Kansai region also gives the project a role beyond adding physical capacity, as businesses look to distribute workloads across multiple locations. The development therefore reflects a broader infrastructure strategy in which regional capacity, connectivity and access to cooling technologies shape how providers accommodate changing customer requirements.

The joint venture structure places the project within a partnership that combines Digital Realty’s global data center platform with Mitsubishi Corporation’s participation in the Japanese market. MCDR will develop KIX15 as the fifth building at the KIX Campus, extending the partners’ existing footprint rather than establishing an entirely new campus. The planned 2028 operational date gives the project a multiyear development horizon, with the new capacity expected to contribute to Japan’s wider AI and cloud infrastructure requirements. Once operational, KIX15 will help lift MCDR’s national IT capacity to 220MW, strengthening the scale of the joint venture’s Japanese portfolio.

Digital Realty Sees Japan as a Strategic AI Infrastructure Market

Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific at Digital Realty, said Japan remains central to the company’s regional expansion plans. Her comments connect the Osaka investment to a long-term strategy built around customer demand, local infrastructure and the company’s international platform. “Japan is a strategic market for Digital Realty and a key part of our long-term growth in Asia Pacific. Our continued investment in Japan reflects both our confidence in the market and our commitment to building the infrastructure customers will need for the long term.

“KIX15 is the next step in that commitment. As customer requirements become more distributed and complex, the combination of local scale and global reach will become increasingly important.” Nah’s remarks point to an important consideration for infrastructure providers: customers need more than additional megawatts. Enterprises and cloud operators must also determine where their workloads should run, how those workloads connect to other systems and whether facilities can support different computing requirements as demand changes. Digital Realty’s Osaka expansion adds capacity within a wider network, giving the company another asset through which to serve customers seeking infrastructure in Japan.

Kansai’s AI Opportunity Depends on Infrastructure Coordination

Kohei Yamashita, representative director and CEO of MC Digital Realty, highlighted the opportunity for the Kansai region to capture a larger role in Japan’s artificial intelligence economy. His comments place the project within a regional development strategy that extends beyond the construction of individual facilities. “Kansai has a growing opportunity to play a larger role in Japan’s AI economy. Realizing that potential will require an ecosystem that can support businesses as they build and scale AI, bringing together computing infrastructure, connectivity, and technology expertise.”

The statement identifies three connected requirements for regional AI growth: computing infrastructure, connectivity and technical expertise. Data center capacity alone cannot deliver a complete AI ecosystem if customers lack the network connections and supporting capabilities needed to deploy and operate their workloads. Kansai’s ability to attract a larger share of AI activity will depend on how effectively these elements develop alongside new facilities. KIX15 adds to the physical infrastructure available in the region, while the broader opportunity will depend on how customers and technology providers use that capacity.

Hybrid Cooling Will Support Changing Computing Requirements

Digital Realty will design KIX15 to support both air- and liquid-cooling technologies. This approach gives the facility a cooling architecture intended to accommodate different thermal-management requirements as computing workloads evolve. The inclusion of liquid cooling matters as AI infrastructure places greater emphasis on removing heat from increasingly power-dense computing systems. Air cooling remains relevant for equipment and workloads suited to conventional thermal-management approaches, while liquid cooling can address the demands of compatible high-density deployments. Supporting both approaches gives operators greater flexibility in matching cooling methods to customer requirements, although the actual performance and efficiency benefits will depend on the facility’s final engineering design and operating conditions. For customers planning AI infrastructure, cooling compatibility can influence deployment choices alongside power availability, network access and the timing of capacity delivery.

Digital Realty Continues Investment Across Japan

KIX15 follows Digital Realty’s expansion at its NRT Campus in Inzai City, approximately 71km (44 miles) from downtown Tokyo. Earlier in 2026, the company added NRT14, a 31MW data center that represents the campus’s third facility. Construction on NRT14 began in May 2024, according to the supplied report, before the facility’s addition to the Japanese portfolio. Digital Realty also operates HND10, its fourth data center in the Tokyo region. Together, these developments show the company’s continued investment across Japan’s major data center markets, with the Osaka project extending its footprint beyond the Tokyo area. The KIX15 development adds 24MW to that strategy, while the NRT14 addition demonstrates the company’s parallel investment in the Inzai market. The resulting portfolio gives Digital Realty and MCDR a broader base from which to address demand across Japan’s regional infrastructure landscape.

KIX15 Adds Capacity, but Execution Will Define Its Value

KIX15’s planned fourth-quarter 2028 opening places delivery timing at the center of the project’s commercial outlook. The facility must translate its planned 24MW into operational capacity that meets customer requirements, including the power, connectivity and cooling specifications needed for intended workloads. Its hybrid air- and liquid-cooling design provides an important part of that proposition, but customers will ultimately assess the facility against their specific deployment and operational needs. The increase to 220MW of MCDR IT capacity will expand the joint venture’s national footprint, while the project’s longer-term significance will depend on how effectively that capacity serves Japan’s evolving AI and cloud markets.