Google, Microsoft to be among bidders to lease SoftBank US data center

Winners, to be chosen by end of month, will cover costs of semiconductors in facility

SoftBank Group Chairman Masoyoshi Son, center, joins U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, second from left, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, second from right, at a ceremony for a gas-power facility in Piketon, Ohio, on March 20. (Photo by Yuji Ohira)

TOKYO -- Google and Microsoft will participate in bidding to select clients for a data center SoftBank Group is building in the U.S., Nikkei has learned, with a decision expected as early as this month.