According to Kyodo News, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced on the 30th that it will provide support funds of 387.3 billion yen (approximately 16.2 billions RMB) to a new company led by SoftBank, which is dedicated to developing domestic artificial intelligence (AI) foundational models, as development commissioning fees for fiscal year 2026.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will support research and development in the field of physical AI that combines robotics and AI technology to enhance the competitiveness of Japan's manufacturing industry, where it has a strong advantage. The new company, named "Noetra" (formerly Japan AI Foundation Model Development), is established with SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony Group at its core. In addition to a high level of Japanese language understanding and reasoning ability, the company will also focus on developing foundational models capable of recognizing images, videos, audio, and physical spaces. The company has been selected for a support project under the "New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization" (NEDO), which is affiliated with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.