{
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    "date": "2026-04-14T08:51:16",
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    "slug": "japans-tech-titans-just-teamed-up-to-build-a-trillion-parameter-ai-and-its-not-here-to-chat",
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    "title": {
        "rendered": "Japan’s Tech Titans Just Teamed Up to Build a Trillion-Parameter AI\u2014And It’s Not Here to Chat"
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        "rendered": "<div>\n<div>\n<h4 color=\"#333\">In brief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony each took 10%+ in a new AI development company, joined by major banks and steelmakers.<\/li>\n<li>The company&#8217;s trillion-parameter model targets Physical AI\u2014robots, autonomous vehicles, and industrial machines\u2014not conversational chatbots.<\/li>\n<li>Japan&#8217;s government NEDO agency has earmarked \u00a51 trillion (~$6.7B) over five years, with Japanese data kept domestic and off foreign cloud infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Japan isn&#8217;t interested in building the next ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony Group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/business\/2026\/04\/12\/companies\/softbank-ai-new-firm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\">jointly formed a new company<\/a> with one goal: build a trillion-parameter AI model that runs machines, not conversations.<\/p>\n<p>The move is a direct bet on what the community refers to as \u201cPhysical AI\u201d: the idea that the next frontier isn&#8217;t language models that write your emails, but AI systems that control a robot arm, drive a car, or run a factory floor. Japan, with its deep industrial base and decades of robotics heritage, thinks it has a natural edge that Silicon Valley and Beijing can&#8217;t easily replicate.<\/p>\n<p>Based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mk.co.kr\/en\/world\/12014862\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a>, SoftBank and NEC will lead the actual AI development. Honda will deploy the results in autonomous driving. Sony brings robotics and gaming hardware to the table. Preferred Networks, a respected Tokyo-based AI developer, is also involved. The company, which roughly translates in English to &#8220;<span>Japan AI Foundation Model Development,&#8221; <\/span>plans to hire around 100 AI engineers, with a SoftBank executive named as president.<\/p>\n<p>Banks and steelmakers showed up too. Nippon Steel, Kobe Steel, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, and Mizuho Bank are all listed as investors, so this is much bigger than a simple tech startup.<\/p>\n<p>The government money will flow through NEDO, a national R&#038;D agency that has <a href=\"https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/tech\/softbank-other-major-japan-firms-set-up-new-company-for-ai-development\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\">earmarked roughly \u00a51 trillion<\/a>\u2014about $6.28 billion\u2014in AI support over five years starting fiscal 2026. Japan AI Foundation Model Development is expected to apply and is considered a near-certain pick.<\/p>\n<p>Japan has spent years sending its data to U.S. cloud infrastructure and paying for the privilege\u2014the so-called &#8220;digital deficit&#8221; that has drained capital and left Japanese industry dependent on foreign tech stacks. The new company wants AI trained on Japanese data, staying in Japan, not feeding OpenAI or Google&#8217;s pipelines.<\/p>\n<p>That makes for a pointed contrast with SoftBank&#8217;s own global moves. The firm <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/312552\/openais-40b-funding-round-japans-softbank\" target=\"_blank\">led OpenAI&#8217;s $40 billion funding round<\/a> in 2025, and now it&#8217;s on the other side of the table\u2014anchoring a domestic model meant to chart a path independent of the same American AI ecosystem it&#8217;s been bankrolling.<\/p>\n<p>Physical AI is heating up globally and big companies are starting to pay attention. Tesla is building its own robots, OpenAI is also supporting AI\/robotics startups and China\u2019s own political plans <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/337286\/beijing-ambitious-targets-nationwide-ai-integration\" target=\"_blank\">include<\/a> massive investments in this area. Earlier this year, leading stablecoin company Tether <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/351560\" target=\"_blank\">invested<\/a> in humanoid robotics startup Generative Bionics, which markets its machines as &#8220;Physical AI&#8221; systems designed to fuse robotics with intelligence that perceives and acts in the world\u2014not just responds to prompts.<\/p>\n<p>The target for practical Physical AI applications is 2030, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.sedaily.com\/finance\/2026\/04\/12\/softbank-nec-honda-sony-form-japan-ai-alliance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\">according<\/a> to local reports. NEDO began accepting proposals for the funding program in late March\u2014meaning the clock is already running.<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Daily Debrief Newsletter<\/h3>\n<p>Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>",
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        "rendered": "<p>In brief SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony each took 10%+ in a new AI development company, joined by major banks [&hellip;]<\/p>",
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