SoftBank backs new AI firm
SoftBank is launching a new domestic AI company and has secured investments from partners including NEC and Honda, signalling a coordinated push into Japanese AI infrastructure. The announcement positions the venture as a locally focused entrant supported by major industrial names. (x.com)
SoftBank and three of Japan’s biggest industrial groups have set up a new company to build a domestic artificial intelligence model for Japanese businesses. (yomiuri.co.jp) The new company is called Japan AI Foundation Model Development, according to Yomiuri. SoftBank, NEC, Honda Motor and Sony Group are the core shareholders, each holding stakes in the low double digits, with a team expected to total about 100 artificial intelligence developers. (yomiuri.co.jp) SoftBank and NEC are expected to lead work on the underlying model, while Honda and Sony plan to use the system in cars, robots, games and semiconductors. Preferred Networks, a Tokyo artificial intelligence developer, is also expected to join the development effort. (yomiuri.co.jp; jiji.com) A foundation model is the base system trained on huge amounts of data before companies adapt it for their own tasks. This venture plans to open its model to Japanese companies beyond the investors, so manufacturers and other groups can tune it for their own operations. (yomiuri.co.jp) The first target is a model with about 1 trillion parameters, the rough internal settings that shape how an artificial intelligence system responds. The longer-term goal is “physical artificial intelligence” that can control robots and machinery, an area Japanese officials and companies see as a domestic strength. (yomiuri.co.jp; yomiuri.co.jp) The project lines up with a government push that began taking applications in late March through the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. Yomiuri reported that Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry plans to provide a total of 1 trillion yen in support over five years from fiscal 2026 to selected artificial intelligence developers. (yomiuri.co.jp; nationthailand.com) That public support sits inside a much larger plan. Yomiuri reported in December that the broader public-private program could reach 3 trillion yen, with SoftBank planning 2 trillion yen over six years for data centers used to develop and deliver artificial intelligence. (yomiuri.co.jp) Other Japanese groups are already joining as smaller investors, including Nippon Steel and the country’s three megabanks: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Financial Group. Several more companies are also in talks to invest, according to Yomiuri and Jiji Press. (yomiuri.co.jp; jiji.com) The timing comes as foreign companies are also pouring money into Japan’s artificial intelligence build-out. Microsoft said last week it would invest $10 billion in Japan between 2026 and 2029 to expand cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, including work with SoftBank. (eweek.com; softbank.jp) For SoftBank and its partners, the immediate next step is to seek state backing and start training a homegrown model on Japanese industrial data. The bet is that Japan’s next artificial intelligence push will be built as much for factories and robots as for chatbots. (yomiuri.co.jp; yomiuri.co.jp)
