CBRE Assists KDDI in Acquiring Sharp Sakai Plant for Data Center

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 inthe 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 plansto convert the site area, which spans 33,000 square meters and has a total floor area of 57,000 square meters, into a datacenter. CBRE assessed the development plan of the existing facility, price assessments based on surrounding realestate transactions, and provided brokerage services for the purchase of the land and existing facility, therebyfacilitating 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, wereceived quick solutions from CBRE representatives, which helped us move forward efficiently. We aim to maximizethe 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 intoa 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."