Microsoft is investing $2.9 billion over the next two years to enhance its hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan, marking its largest investment in the country. 

The announcement came after Microsoft President Brad Smith met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington.

Additionally, Microsoft will expand digital training programs to equip over 3 million people with AI skills in the next three years and establish an AI and robotics lab in Japan. 

The company will also strengthen cybersecurity cooperation with the Japanese government.

Kishida, in the U.S. for the first official visit by a Japanese leader in nine years, is set to meet President Joe Biden to discuss U.S.-Japan relations, including defense, economic security, 

and key technologies like AI and quantum computing. He has encouraged American business leaders to invest in Japan’s tech sector and will visit Toyota’s battery plant 

and a Honda Aircraft factory in North Carolina to highlight Japan’s economic contributions to the U.S.

Japan remains the largest foreign investor in the U.S., with $775.2 billion in total investments by the end of 2022, far surpassing China’s $44.8 billion.

source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/04/10/companies/microsoft-investment-ai-japan/