At NVIDIA AI Summit Japan, NVIDIA and SoftBank have announced a series of initiatives to make Japan a global artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse.
SoftBank is building Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer using NVIDIA’s Blackwell platform. It is slated to receive the world’s first NVIDIA DGX B200 systems, which will form the foundation of its new NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD supercomputer and play form a vital part of Japan’s AI infrastructure.
SoftBank also plans to create an AI marketplace using NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. The platform is aimed at meeting the growing demand for local, secure AI computing, potentially transforming SoftBank into the AI grid for Japan. It could catalyse new business opportunities across sectors such as healthcare, robotics, telecommunications, and transportation.
In a major technological breakthrough, SoftBank has piloted the world’s first combined AI and 5G telecom network, known as AI-RAN (artificial intelligence radio access network). Powered by NVIDIA AI Aerial accelerated computing platform, this innovation opens up new revenue streams for telecom operators worldwide. The potential economic impact is substantial, with estimates suggesting that telco operators could earn approximately US$5 in AI inference revenue for every US$1 invested in new AI-RAN infrastructure.
“With SoftBank’s significant investment in NVIDIA’s full-stack AI, Omniverse and 5G AI-RAN platforms, Japan is leaping into the AI industrial revolution to become a global leader, driving a new era of growth across the telecommunications, transportation, robotics, and healthcare industries in ways that will greatly benefit humankind in the age of AI,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
While the NVIDIA-SoftBank collaboration is a strategic move to accelerate Japan’s sovereign AI initiatives, it could have a riplling effect throughout Asia. This could potentially spur similar initiatives in neighbouring countries, reinforcing the region’s role in shaping the future of AI.
Entelechy Asia 