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Nvidia on Wednesday announced new AI models for robots and vision AI agents, deepening its push into Japan’s physical AI market.
The company’s new model, Cosmos 3 Edge, is a so-called world model designed to allow the system to perceive and navigate the physical environment in real time. The Cosmos 3 Edge is a World model is a system that can learn from a wider range of inputs compared to large-scale language models (LLMs). This development follows the launch of Cosmos 3 in May.
Nvidia said the regional expansion will take center stage during CEO Jensen Huang’s two-day visit to Japan. NVIDIA said Silicon Valley chip giants are expanding their physical AI footprint by forming a coalition, which will also include local industry giants such as Fujitsu, Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
“The next frontier for AI is in the physical world, and this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Japan,” NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement Wednesday. “Japan invented modern manufacturing, and now Japan has an opportunity to reinvent manufacturing for the era of intelligent industry.”
The technology giant’s partnership with the Japanese company comes in the coming months microsoft‘s $10 billion investment in the country is aimed at building AI infrastructure and strengthening cybersecurity. Japanese investment giant SoftBank is betting big on the AI boom. The company is considering partnering with Microsoft and Sakura Internet to develop AI in Japan.
According to the International Trade Administration, Japan’s AI market is expected to reach $27.9 billion by 2029, opening the door to investment by U.S. companies. This growth is being driven by Tokyo’s aggressive push to advance AI adoption across industries, as well as local companies’ eagerness to forge international partnerships.
Ajay Rajadhyaksha, Barclays’ global chairman of research, told CNBC last month that Barclays has an advantage in Asia due to its diversified AI and clean structural growth story.
Nvidia partnership promotion
Nvidia is also expanding its reach into agent AI for advanced science through efforts in drug discovery and medical robotics, and is aggressively expanding its AI footprint in Japan’s healthcare and biotech sectors.
Regarding agent AI, Nvidia highlighted the ongoing expansion of Tokyo-1, an AI drug discovery consortium run by Xeureka. Mitsui & Co. subsidiary. The platform has grown steadily since its first announcement in 2023 and leverages the Nvidia BioNeMo agent toolkit, a platform that accelerates autonomous AI drug discovery.
Japanese pharmaceutical giants are already expanding their involvement. Including major pharmaceutical manufacturers, Astellas Pharma Inc., Daiichi Sankyoand ono pharmaceutical industry The company said in a blog post that it is leveraging Nvidia’s specialized biology toolkit to streamline its workflow.
Beyond biotechnology, Nvidia said it is also moving into industrial automation through a partnership with. Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
