SoftBank is launching a national-scale Physical AI initiative in Japan. The project aims to develop trillion-parameter models using real-world manufacturing data. This data includes specific metrics such as temperature and weight. The initiative serves as a strategic hedge for SoftBank’s existing OpenAI investments.
SoftBank is investing one trillion yen to build a large-scale AI data center. The facility will house approximately 100,000 GPUs. The company expects the site to be operational by 2028.
Market analysts have raised concerns about data integration and fragmented industry needs. Project success depends heavily on Japanese government subsidies. A critical budget approval is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026.