SoftBank, Sony, Honda and six others reportedly back new Japanese AI company aiming for a 1‑trillion‑parameter “physical AI” model by 2030

New venture, homegrown ambition

It has been reported that SoftBank has set up a new company in Japan to develop domestic artificial‑intelligence capabilities, and that NEC, Honda Motor, Sony and five other Japanese firms have invested in the unit. The move, according to the report, is part of a push to build local infrastructure and know‑how rather than rely solely on overseas AI providers. SoftBank’s data‑center expansion in Japan has been cited as part of the effort to host and run the hefty systems such a project would require.

A trillion parameters, for the physical world

The new outfit reportedly plans to develop a 1 trillion‑parameter foundation model — yes, one trillion — by 2030, with a focus on “physical AI”: models designed to control robots, vehicles and other real‑world systems rather than just generate text or images. Ambitious? Absolutely. Necessary? Arguably. Training a model of that size for embodied tasks will mean huge compute, custom data pipelines, and tight hardware‑software co‑design — areas where Japan still has strengths in robotics, sensors and industrial systems.

Why this matters now

Why does this feel like more than another R&D bet? Because it ties into a broader race: countries and conglomerates are scrambling to build sovereign AI stacks and keep critical tech on home soil. It has been reported that this consortium wants both strategic independence and industry advantage — imagine cars, factory arms and care robots that speak fluent Japanese and were trained on local data. The emotional core here is plain: pride, urgency and a dash of tech nationalism. Can Japan turn its robotics legacy into a new lead in “physical AI”? The next few years will tell.

Sources: asia.nikkei.com