Nvidia Wins Japan AI Factory and Robotics Deals Backed by ¥1 Trillion
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Jul 19
Nvidia Wins Japan AI Factory and Robotics Deals Backed by ¥1 Trillion
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Jul 19
Summary
Tokyo committed up to ¥1 trillion ($6.2 billion) over five years to Noetra, a sovereign physical-AI effort that will use Nvidia to build a national AI factory for robots, vehicles and factory floors.
The planned 2028 data center will house 13,750 Vera CPUs and 27,500 Rubin GPUs, supplying 140 megawatts of compute for Japanese-language reasoning models first due in fiscal 2026 and robot-focused AI by 2030.
Fanuc, Yaskawa, Kawasaki Heavy, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Sony, SoftBank and Kubota also signed on to build with Nvidia's Cosmos models, after Nvidia unveiled Cosmos 3 Edge for Jetson Thor chips running inside machines.
Toyota is extending Nvidia deeper into manufacturing and vehicle software as Japan pushes for 10 million AI-equipped robots across 18 sectors by 2040 and more than 30% of the global AI robotics market.
As 10 million AI robots enter society, can technology solve a labor crisis without losing the human touch?
Is Japan trading its demographic crisis for a new, unbreakable dependency on American technology?
Japan’s FRONTia Project: Building a National AI Robotics Infrastructure to Deploy 10 Million Robots by 2040
Overview
Japan is launching the FRONTia Project in FY2026 to build the world’s first national AI infrastructure focused on robotics and physical AI. This initiative will create powerful computing resources that allow robots and devices to operate autonomously in the real world, showing Japan’s commitment to leading the next wave of AI that connects digital and physical spaces. A key part of the project is a strategic partnership with Nvidia, whose advanced AI chips and expertise will help Japan develop its own foundation models. Together, these efforts aim to position Japan at the forefront of global AI and robotics innovation.