Japan forms AI alliance

Japan’s biggest industrial groups have set up a new company to build home-grown artificial intelligence models, with a public goal of reaching trillion-parameter scale. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) The new firm is called Nihon AI Kiban Moderu Kaihatsu, or Japan AI platform model development, and SoftBank, NEC, Honda and Sony are its largest shareholders at a little more than 10% each. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) SoftBank and NEC are assigned to build the foundation models, while Honda and Sony plan to use them in automobiles, robots, video games and semiconductors. The company is expected to hire about 100 artificial intelligence developers and engineers. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) A foundation model is the base system trained on huge amounts of data that other companies can adapt for their own products, like using one engine across many car models. The new company plans to make its models available to Japanese companies, including non-investors. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) The group’s stated target is not only chatbots or image tools. It is also “physical AI,” software that can control robots and other machines in the real world. (biz.chosun.com; japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) That fits the companies involved. Honda builds vehicles and robotics systems, Sony works across sensors, chips and entertainment, and SoftBank has recently been publishing research on “physical AI” for warehouses and low-latency networks for robots. (sony.com; softbank.jp; softbank.jp) The alliance arrives as Japan tries to reduce its reliance on United States and Chinese model makers. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the companies hope to catch up with those countries by jointly developing large domestic models and a system to deploy them. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) The project also lines up with a government funding push. A national research and development agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been accepting applications since late March, and the program is set to provide up to ¥1 trillion over fiscal 2026 to 2030 to selected domestic artificial intelligence projects. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp; finance.biggo.com; nedo.go.jp) Other Japanese companies are already lining up behind it. Nippon Steel and the three megabanks — MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank — are expected to join as minority shareholders, and Preferred Networks is expected to work with the venture. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) The immediate test is whether this consortium can turn a national ambition into a usable domestic model stack before 2030. For now, Japan’s answer to the global artificial intelligence race is an industrial coalition built around chips, cars, robots and software together. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp; biz.chosun.com)