SoftBank, NEC, Honda, Sony Form AI Joint Venture

Tokyo, Japan - Four Japanese companies have formed a joint venture, Japan AI Foundation Model Development, to build domestic artificial intelligence systems, the firms announced.

SoftBank Corp, NEC Corp, Honda Motor Co, and Sony Group Corp are the primary stakeholders, each holding an investment stake between 10 and 19 percent.

A SoftBank executive leading domestic AI initiatives will serve as president of the venture, which is expected to employ about 100 AI developers.

SoftBank and NEC will oversee the development of the foundation AI models.

Honda and Sony intend to use the resulting technology in automotive, robotics, gaming, and semiconductor applications.

The venture aims to develop an AI model with one trillion parameters, a benchmark for high-capacity systems.

The long-term objective is to develop "physical AI" capable of directly operating robotics.

The venture's models will be offered as open infrastructure to other Japanese companies, allowing non-investors to adapt the technology for internal use.

Minority shareholders include Nippon Steel Corp, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC), and Mizuho Bank, all of which plan to use AI models in their operations.

Talks with additional firms about potential capital participation are ongoing.

Tokyo-based Preferred Networks is also set to participate in the research and development phase.

The company plans to apply for a public grant from a national research and development agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

The METI program will provide JPY 1 trillion (US$6.3 billion) in financial support to selected entities over five years, starting in fiscal 2026.