The Japanese unit of U.S. IT firm Oracle Corp. said Thursday it will invest $8 billion in Japan over the next 10 years to respond to the country's growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

The U.S. technology company will strengthen the capabilities of its data centers in Tokyo and Osaka by introducing high-performance graphics processing units used for developing AI, it said.

The move will help the Japanese government and companies manage their data inside Japan, reducing the risk of it leaking outside the country, the company said.

The announcement follows similar investment plans recently revealed by its U.S. rivals. Tech giant Microsoft Corp. said earlier this month it will invest $2.9 billion in Japan to upgrade its data centers.

Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud computing service unit said in January that it will spend about 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) in the country to strengthen its cloud infrastructure by 2027.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government sees AI as a growth driver for the country's economy and has been accelerating efforts to propel technological advances in the area.

==Kyodo

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