Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently visited Tokyo on July 15 and 16, building on previous visits to Taiwan and South Korea to forge deep ties with Japan’s tech and industrial sectors. During his trip, Huang secured partnerships that span the country’s entire tech ecosystem, focusing on integrating AI into Japan’s manufacturing floors and robotics. Nvidia is positioning itself as a key player in Japan’s ambitious plan to lead the next wave of “physical AI,” where AI powers machines, robots, and factory operations. Huang emphasized that Japan, known for its manufacturing prowess, now has an opportunity to reinvent industry for the AI age.

A major highlight of Huang’s visit was the launch of Noetra, Japan’s government-backed initiative to develop a sovereign AI platform tailored for controlling robots, vehicles, and industrial machinery. The project involves a coalition of roughly 44 domestic companies, including SoftBank, Sony, NEC, and Honda, with a budget of up to 1 trillion yen ($6.2 billion) over five years. While Japan aims to create its own AI software “brain,” Nvidia supplies the underlying hardware, designing a massive AI data center called the Vera Rubin AI factory planned for 2028. This facility will run cutting-edge AI models and support Japan’s goal of deploying advanced AI systems across industries by 2030.

Nvidia’s outreach also gained traction among Japan’s leading robotics and manufacturing firms, with companies like Fanuc, Yaskawa, Kawasaki Heavy, Fujitsu, and Honda committing to build on Nvidia’s Cosmos AI models. Recently upgraded with Cosmos 3 Edge, designed to run AI directly inside machines using Jetson Thor chips, these collaborations represent a national effort to embed AI within Japan’s physical infrastructure. Honda R&D and Omron are already experimenting with Nvidia’s tools to pioneer smarter factory automation. Huang termed this moment a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for Japan to lead in intelligent industrial innovation.

Significantly, Toyota deepened its partnership with Nvidia by integrating the company’s Drive platform not only in vehicles but also in manufacturing process simulations and traffic-sensing systems. While Toyota focuses on advanced driver assistance requiring a human behind the wheel, this collaboration symbolizes the broader physical AI ambitions tying Japanese automotive innovation to Nvidia’s AI hardware and software. Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration, Japan’s strategic vision includes a $2.3 trillion investment by 2040 to establish AI and semiconductors as pillars of economic growth. Huang’s Japan visit underscored Nvidia’s central role in this vision, as Tokyo aims for technological sovereignty while leveraging American chip technology.