Sumitomo and SBI Holdings to take stakes in Vietnam's FPT AI unit
Sumitomo and SBI Holdings will each acquire a 20% stake in a unit of Vietnam's software and telecommunications conglomerate FPT to foster artificial intelligence adoption in Japan, according to a statement.
Sumitomo and SBI will invest in FPT Smart Cloud Japan, which oversees FPT's Japan AI data center, according to a statement from the Vietnamese technology firm. FPT will remain the unit's major stakeholder, it said.
SBI Holdings late last year signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire as much as a 35% stake in FPT's Japan cloud unit.
FPT is setting up a Japan AI data center, with an initial investment of $200 million. It is operating a similar data center using Nvidia AI technology in Hanoi.
The company targets $40 million in revenue from its AI data center business this year, Vietcap Securities said in a February report.
FPT is weighing additional AI data centers to meet increasing global demand, co-founder and Chairperson Truong Gia Binh said at the company's annual shareholders' meeting last week. Potential locations for data sites include Malaysia, Indonesia and Germany, he said. FPT plans to eventually invest as much as $1 billion in AI data centers, Binh said earlier.
The company is also considering a joint venture in the Middle East to lure investments in data centers, according to an April 17 note from ACB Securities, which cited information from the firm's annual meeting.
FPT targets 20% growth in total revenue and a 21% increase in profit before tax this year. It reported 2024 revenue of 62.85 trillion dong ($2.4 billion), a 19% year-on-year jump.
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