Soufun Group officially established "Japan AI Foundation Model Development Company" in Tokyo, marking a crucial step for Japan in developing its own large-scale models. This move has gathered eight core companies, including Honda, Sony, NEC, and three major banks, to invest, and is expected to receive policy and financial support from the Japanese government.
Targeting "Physical AI": Parameter Scale of 1 Trillion
The new company plans to recruit about 100 top AI developers, with clear technical development goals: striving to develop a large AI foundation model with a parameter scale of 1 trillion by 2030. Unlike mainstream general models currently available, this project will focus on the "Physical AI" field, emphasizing AI's perception and interaction capabilities with the physical world.
Clear Division of Labor and Collaboration Ecosystem
In terms of functional allocation, participating companies have their own roles, forming a complete industrial chain closed loop:
R&D Core: SoftBank and NEC will lead the fundamental R&D work of the large-scale model;
Application Implementation: Honda and Sony plan to deeply integrate the R&D results into core business areas such as autonomous driving and robotics;
Technical Support: The well-known Japanese AI unicorn Preferred Networks will also participate in the collaboration of model construction.
Notably, after the completion of this model, it will not only serve the eight major companies that invested, but also be open to other Japanese companies. This public-private partnership "group cooperation" model aims to alleviate Japanese companies' over-reliance on overseas AI technologies, and enhance Japan's global voice in future spatial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing transformation by building an autonomous and controllable AI foundation.
