JAPAN is expanding its national strategy for physical artificial intelligence (AI) through a government-backed computing infrastructure project and new collaborations with domestic manufacturers and robotics companies aimed at accelerating industrial automation and AI development.

The initiatives, announced during Nvidia’s AI conference in Japan, include plans to establish what organizers described as the world’s first national AI infrastructure dedicated to physical AI and a broader effort by Japanese industry to develop intelligent machines using AI platforms.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is supporting the FRONTia Project, a national program to develop multimodal foundation models for robotics and physical AI. The project will use an AI factory to be built by Noetra Corp. as its computing platform for developing AI agents, robotics, digital twins and other industrial AI applications.

“Japan has launched the FRONTia Project, which will serve as the core of the country’s physical AI ecosystem,” METI Minister Ryosei Akazawa said.

“By fostering collaboration between Japan and leading global innovators — including Nvidia — and leveraging Japan’s strengths, such as its onsite expertise and manufacturing technology infrastructure, we will build highly reliable multimodal foundation models and contribute to solving global social challenges,” he said.

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Separately, Japanese manufacturers and technology companies are expanding work on physical AI using Nvidia’s Cosmos, Isaac, Metropolis and Jetson platforms for applications in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure.

Companies that intend to join the Nvidia Cosmos Coalition include Fanuc, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kubota, NEC, SoftBank Corp., Sony Group Corp. and Yaskawa Electric. Coalition members are expected to contribute to the development of open-world AI models for robotics and industrial applications.

Several companies also announced projects involving physical AI. Fujitsu is exploring a collaborative control platform with Fanuc, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Yaskawa Electric. NEC, Hitachi, Omron and Preferred Networks are advancing industrial AI research, while SoftBank Corp. is developing a physical AI platform and AI-RAN technologies. Other companies are exploring applications ranging from autonomous farming and retail automation to elder care and smart-building operations.

“The next frontier of AI is in the physical world, and this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Japan,” Nvidia founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said.

“Japan invented modern manufacturing. Now, it has the opportunity to reinvent it for the age of intelligent industries,” Huang said.

According to the announcement, Japan’s AI Robotics Strategy aims to capture more than 30 percent of the global AI robotics market by 2040 through investments in AI infrastructure, robotics research and industrial partnerships.