🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

SoftBank weighs zinc-based batteries to cut supply chain risk

• SoftBank intends to work with South Korean startup Cosmos Lab to bring zinc-halogen batteries to market. Further terms were not disclosed because of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) 1.
• The battery chemistry avoids lithium and cobalt, which cost more and depend heavily on China-linked supply chains 1.
• SoftBank expects to install the batteries at large data centers it plans to build in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. It also expects to start production there after performance checks 1.
• Those trials would test the systems before production targeted for 2027. SoftBank is also weighing capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour by 2030 and future sales of 100 billion yen (US$638 million) 1.

AI competition is spreading from chips to power systems

• The project rests on a simple idea. In AI, access to power and storage can matter as much as access to computing hardware, described as “computing + energy storage” 2.
• AI data centers use huge amounts of electricity, and public grids often cannot expand fast enough to keep up 3.
• SoftBank Corp.’s risk filings list research, development, and commercialization of next-generation batteries as part of its effort to limit swings in power prices and supply chain disruption 4.
• The plan could give SoftBank more control over energy supply. Newer battery designs still carry uncertainty, and Chinese battery makers already operate at far larger scale 2.