Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group announced that its Japanese telecommunications arm, SoftBank Corp, will develop zinc-halogen battery cells and energy storage systems for the Japanese market, with plans to scale production to 1 GWh per year.

The manufacturing of both batteries and solar panels will be carried out at SoftBank’s factory in Osaka, Japan, which will also host an AI data center and an AI hardware plant. For the battery project, SoftBank Corp will partner with South Korea-based battery company Cosmos Lab and AI firm DeltaX Co.

Cosmos Lab will collaborate with SoftBank on next-generation zinc-halogen battery cells and work with DeltaX on battery designs. Two ventures will be established as part of the project: AX Factory will serve as a hub for AI data center operations and AI hardware manufacturing, while GX Factory will act as a manufacturing hub for next-generation batteries, solar panels and related products.

In a press release, SoftBank stated, “At the GX Factory, SoftBank plans to begin manufacturing battery cells and energy storage systems from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028 (FY2027), with the aim of achieving mass production on a gigawatt-hour (GWh)-per-year scale by around FY2028.”

Zinc-halogen batteries feature pure water as the electrolyte, which endows them with inherent safety. Although aqueous zinc-ion batteries have been developed in labs and production, they hold a very small share of the battery market. Halogen elements include iodine, bromine, and chlorine.