Four Japanese Giants Form National Team to Develop Physical AI

Core generative AI technologies have long been dominated by U.S. and Chinese companies. To reduce Japan's reliance on overseas models and computing power, SoftBank, Sony Group, Honda Motor and NEC jointly established Japan AI Foundation Model Development. The venture will focus on “physical AI,” combining text, images, sensor data and robotic control in a project with implications for manufacturing competitiveness, economic security and technological autonomy.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry selected the new company, since renamed Noetra, on June 30, 2026, to carry out a five-year program. It will provide ¥387.3 billion in subsidies for fiscal 2026 and up to ¥1 trillion in total. Noetra said on July 16 that 44 companies and organizations had invested. It plans to begin installing 27,500 NVIDIA Rubin GPUs in April 2027 and bring them online in June 2028 to support a 1-trillion-parameter model.