Japanese Electronics Giants Pivot to AI Infrastructure: Panasonic Invests ¥92 Billion, Hitachi Builds Canadian Transformer Insulation Material Plant
Major Japanese electronics firms like Panasonic, Hitachi Energy, and Sharp are shifting capital from consumer appliances to AI server components and power infrastructure to capture new nodes in the global AI supply chain.
Formerly dominant global home appliance manufacturers are accelerating their transition into the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, focusing on the materials, components, and server hardware supply chains essential for AI data centers. This strategic realignment aims to secure new growth engines in the AI infrastructure market by restructuring business portfolios.
Panasonic Industry announced a total investment of ¥92 billion (approx. KRW 780 billion) to expand production capacity for materials and electronic components used in AI data centers. Approximately 73% of this new investment (¥67 billion) will be concentrated on expanding multilayer substrate material capacity. Multilayer substrates are key materials supporting high-speed communication in AI servers. Panasonic plans to strengthen this supply chain by expanding factories in Suzhou, China, and Ayutthaya, Thailand. Additionally, to meet demand for conductive polymer capacitors—which stabilize current flow in AI server power circuits—Panasonic will invest ¥17 billion to expand facilities in Kyoto, Japan, and Batam, Indonesia.
Hitachi Energy is addressing power bottlenecks caused by the surge in AI data centers. The company plans to invest CAD 479 million (approx. KRW 450 billion) to build a transformer insulation material plant in Ontario, Canada. This marks Hitachi Energy's first establishment of such production infrastructure in North America, with completion expected in 2028 to enhance the stability of the North American power infrastructure supply chain.
Sharp, acquired by Taiwan's Foxconn, has also entered the AI server market. Sharp has begun accepting orders in Japan for enterprise-grade AI servers equipped with NVIDIA's 'Blackwell' GPUs, with plans to expand its lineup to include servers based on the next-generation 'Rubin' GPU. This move targets the demand for self-built AI servers among Japanese enterprises and research institutions that prioritize security.