Sakura Internet¡¯s chief said the company may need to hike its capital spending by nearly seven times its initial plan to keep up with artificial intelligence demand in Japan.

The data center operator is eyeing an allocation of as much as ?20 billion to ?30 billion ($125 million to $190 million) this fiscal year, founder and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka said. That¡¯s above the ?4.4 billion in the Osaka-based company¡¯s official capital expenditure plan announced last month.

¡°AI server usage rates are 80% to 90%,¡± Tanaka, 48, said in an interview. ¡°We need to expand capacity significantly because the number of orders are increasing sharply.¡± Sakura Internet has said it¡¯s considering a further ?6.5 billion in capital expenditures and additional spending to procure AI accelerators.