Sakura Internet

What makes Sakura Internet different

Sakura Internet stands apart as Japan’s first privately-certified cloud provider for government “Cloud Program” supply assurance (certified June 2023 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). This distinction reflects a deep commitment to digital sovereignty and economic security—critical for enterprises handling sensitive workloads in Asia-Pacific.

The provider operates its own domestic data centers rather than reselling hyperscaler capacity, giving customers direct control over data residency and compliance posture. With 18.9 EFLOPS of GPU capacity, Sakura is purpose-built for generative AI and large-scale ML workloads, positioning it as a regional alternative to AWS, GCP, and Azure for organizations requiring Japanese or broader Asian infrastructure sovereignty.

The strategic partnership with Equinix amplifies this positioning, enabling Sakura to expand GPU services across Platform Equinix’s ecosystem while maintaining operational independence and local governance oversight.

Pricing model

Sakura Internet employs a usage-based pricing model for its cloud services (SAKURA Cloud, VPS, Web Hosting). Specific per-unit rates are not published in available public sources, but the provider offers transparent self-service pricing calculators on its platform. GPU-accelerated services are priced competitively to support accessibility for domestic AI adoption—a policy aligned with Japan’s “Smart Society” vision.

Unlike hyperscalers, Sakura’s pricing reflects no egress fees bias toward vendor lock-in; the focus is sustainable, predictable costs for long-term infrastructure partnerships.

When it fits

• Data sovereignty requirements: Organizations bound by Japanese regulations, government contracts, or regional data protection mandates (APAC-only deployments).
• Generative AI & ML at scale: Teams building large-language models, fine-tuning, or inference workloads requiring certified, compliant GPU infrastructure in Asia.
• Supply-chain critical applications: Defense, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure sectors needing certified domestic cloud supply assurance.
• Asia-Pacific expansion: Companies establishing regional cloud footprints in Japan and Southeast Asia with unified compliance frameworks.
• SMB & mid-market AI adoption: Organizations avoiding hyperscaler complexity and cost structures for focused AI projects.

When it doesn’t

• Global multi-region deployments: Sakura’s current footprint is Japan-centric; organizations needing truly global reach should augment with other providers.
• Bleeding-edge AI research: While capable, Sakura’s service maturity and ecosystem tooling are smaller than AWS SageMaker or GCP Vertex AI.

Inclusion criteria

✅ Transparent pricing: Self-service pricing calculators available on SAKURA Cloud and other service portals.

✅ Self-service signup: Direct registration available for all major services (SAKURA Cloud, VPS, Web Hosting).

✅ Public SLA & status page: Sakura maintains published SLAs and operational status transparency aligned with Japanese cloud service standards.