Asia Tech Wire (Apr 18) -- U.S. cloud computing giant Oracle Corp. has announced the expansion of its cloud services in Japan, following in the footsteps of Amazon and Microsoft.

To meet the growing demand for cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan, Oracle said in a statement on Wednesday it plans to invest more than $8 billion over the next 10 years.

The investment will expand its cloud infrastructure business in Japan, as well as its operations and support engineer teams in the country.

More importantly, it will help Oracle's customers and partners in Japan meet digital sovereignty requirements, which means managing domestic data within the country.

Japan, like China, has restricted the cross-border transfer of personal data through its data protection law, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI).

Oracle is expected to expand its cloud infrastructure in two regions, Tokyo and Osaka, where it currently operates data centers.

In addition, the company will purchase graphics processing units (GPUs) for AI development, improving its capabilities as a computing platform.

Actually, before Oracle, American tech giants like Microsoft have already announced their cloud investments in Japan.

During Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to the U.S. last week, Microsoft announced that it would invest $2.9 billion over the next two years to boost its cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan.

Amazon's cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) said in January that it plans to invest 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in Japan by 2027 to expand its cloud infrastructure that serves as the backbone for AI services.