en.Wedoany.com Reported - Japan's digital infrastructure sector welcomes a new entrant, as DigitalBridge partners with Japan Extensive Infrastructure (JEXI), a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, to launch Nippon Gateway Infrastructure (NGI), a next-generation colocation data center platform targeting enterprises. The platform aims to meet Japan's growing demand for digital infrastructure.
NGI's initial assets come from a data center portfolio acquired from NEC, covering two core regions: the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Osaka metropolitan area. Following the transaction, NEC will continue to collaborate with NGI as a strategic customer. NGI plans to further expand its platform scale through subsequent acquisitions, capacity expansion of existing facilities, and selective greenfield development.
The management team is in place. Hiroshi Ogasawara has been appointed President and CEO, with a career spanning SCSK, SCSK NEC Data Center Management, and AT TOKYO. Masato Hoshino serves as Executive Vice President and COO, previously holding the role of Asia Head at Colt Technology Services. Yoshiaki Fujimori, Chairman of Oracle Japan, has been appointed Chairman of NGI.
The joint venture is established against a backdrop of converging demands from enterprise AI applications, cloud migration, and data sovereignty compliance, which are continuously driving a supply gap for carrier-neutral colocation facilities. DigitalBridge stated that NGI will focus on the enterprise customer segment while simultaneously advancing new acquisitions and greenfield projects in major Japanese cities. JEXI believes the joint venture aligns with its overall strategy of connecting domestic infrastructure opportunities with institutional investment capital while promoting long-term industrial development.
Justin Chang, Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia at DigitalBridge, noted that NGI's establishment directly reflects the strategy of building and scaling digital infrastructure platforms in collaboration with excellent management teams and strategic partners. Leveraging an initial portfolio of high-quality data center assets, a seasoned management team led by Hiroshi Ogasawara and Masato Hoshino, and a range of scalable opportunities, NGI has the full potential to grow into a leading data center platform in the Japanese market.
From a market perspective, Japan is already one of the fastest-growing colocation markets in Asia. Hyperscale cloud providers, AI infrastructure suppliers, financial institutions, and local enterprises are actively seeking carrier-neutral facilities to support computing capacity expansion. Tokyo and Osaka continue to serve as Japan's data center hubs, attracting sustained investment from global or local operators such as Equinix, Digital Realty, AirTrunk, STACK Infrastructure, and AT TOKYO. DigitalBridge is transitioning from single-asset holdings to platform-based development, expanding its regional digital infrastructure footprint through collaboration with local operators and investors. The establishment of NGI aligns with the industry trend where infrastructure investors combine existing enterprise customer resources with local management team capabilities to consolidate in the fragmented colocation market, proactively positioning for AI-driven infrastructure demand.
