(Reuters) - SoftBank plans to transform a former Sharp LCD panel plant in Japan into a data center for operating artificial intelligence agents developed in collaboration with U.S.-based ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, according to a Nikkei report on Friday.

The Japanese telecom giant is set to purchase the facility and a portion of the land at Sharp's shuttered TV liquid crystal display factory in Osaka for approximately 100 billion yen ($677.05 million), the report said.

($1 = 147.7000 yen)