Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu announced on the 27th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), a major US defense company, regarding the establishment of a maintenance and operation framework for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in Japan and the consideration of future technical collaboration. Fujitsu will broadly examine the potential application of its domestic capabilities in avionics maintenance, parts management, maintenance training, and support services for the MQ-9B, an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance UAV developed and manufactured by GA-ASI. The Ministry of Defense plans to adopt 23 MQ-9B aircraft for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, with deployment starting in fiscal year 2027.

Japan's local 5G market is forecast to generate close to $1.1 billion in cumulative investment by 2030, with annual spending growing at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 55% between 2026 and 2030. The new Japan Local 5G Market 2026-2030 report from ResearchAndMarkets.com highlights rapid commercial maturity across industrial and enterprise sectors, driven by deployments from NTT DATA, Fujitsu, and NEC. Growth is expected to be led by locally licensed 5G networks operating in Band n79 at 4.6-4.9 GHz and Band n257 at 28.2-29.1 GHz, supporting digital transformation across manufacturing, transportation, construction, utilities, broadcasting, agriculture, public safety, and disaster preparedness. High-profile deployments include the Port of Osaka's Yumeshima Container Terminal, Hiroshima Gas, NEC Corporation, and Ricoh's Tohoku Plant. The research package includes the complete Private 5G Market 2026-2030 report and a dedicated datasheet with local 5G market size forecasts for Japan.

Nvidia has signed seven Japanese industrial giants into its new physical AI coalition, locking in a massive, long-lived stream of demand for its chips and software. Companies including Fujitsu, FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi, NEC, SoftBank, Sony, and Kubota intend to build on Nvidia's Cosmos, Isaac, Metropolis, and Jetson platforms as part of a Cosmos Coalition focused on physical AI. Nvidia is also partnering with Noetra, a Japanese AI consortium backed by Sony, SoftBank, Honda, and dozens of other firms, to build what it calls the world's first national infrastructure for physical AI, centered on a Vera Rubin AI factory with 13,750 Vera CPUs and 27,500 Rubin GPUs delivering about 140 megawatts of compute capacity. Japan's industry ministry expects this to help the country capture 30% of the global AI robotics market by 2040, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government plans to mobilize more than 370 trillion yen, or 2.3 trillion dollars, in combined public and private investment by 2040 across physical AI, semiconductors, and data centers. Noetra's own roadmap calls for roughly 1 trillion yen, or 6.3 billion dollars, of sovereign AI spending over five years to develop domestic foundation models for robots and industrial AI.

The UK Government is continuing to allow Fujitsu to bid for contracts despite subpostmasters still awaiting compensation from the Horizon scandal. The Japanese technology giant appears on a new list of suppliers eligible to pitch for lucrative Government work, even though it had voluntarily paused bids for new contracts after the scandal. Reports indicate Fujitsu is now pursuing extensions or renewals with existing government customers, including a £61 million contract renewal for an HMRC self-assessment tax return system. The Government has funded around £1.5 billion in compensation payments so far, while Fujitsu has yet to pay compensation directly to affected subpostmasters. A Cabinet Office spokesman said there is no guarantee a supplier on the framework will be awarded work, and a Fujitsu spokeswoman stated the company is adhering to its voluntary pause on new public sector bidding while conversations about its contribution to compensation continue.

The digitalisation of public transport and the adoption of AI are advancing, with transit management systems that build on bus location technology enhancing convenience. In March this year, the Public Transport Open Data Frontier 2026 forum was held, where the enrichment and utilisation of the General Transit Feed Specification were discussed. Using GTFS as a foundation, efforts are underway to achieve on-time operations through signal control, simplify the construction of smartphone bus navigation, and develop apps with generative AI. Pilot projects and commercialisation are progressing across various regions, including NTT Docomo Business's AI-operated bus, Fujitsu's Mobility as a Service and demand-responsive regional mobility transport system, and Lecip Holdings' transit management system LIVU. The spread of AI on-demand transport and autonomous driving is expected to encourage elderly people to go out more, resolve transport-poor areas, and shift the focus from vehicle ownership to mobility as a service.

Nvidia is expanding its push into industrial robotics through a collaboration with Fujitsu and three of Japan's largest robotics companies to explore a physical artificial intelligence platform. The initiative brings together Fujitsu, FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to evaluate AI-powered systems for manufacturing, logistics and healthcare applications, initially focusing on commercial opportunities and a technology deployment roadmap. Nvidia's software and AI portfolio, including Cosmos world models, Omniverse, Isaac robotics and the Newton physics engine, will support digital twins, robot simulation and autonomous machine development. The collaboration did not include financial terms, deployment schedules or revenue commitments. Analysts continue to view Nvidia's core growth as being driven by demand for AI infrastructure, while seeing robotics as a potential longer-term opportunity, with the Japan initiative unlikely to have a material near-term impact on earnings.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a broad slate of AI products, partnerships, and customer deployments at the company's Japan AI event in Tokyo on July 15. The announcements spanned physical AI, healthcare, financial services, quantum computing, automotive, manufacturing, and gaming, highlighting Nvidia's push to position its technologies at the forefront of Japan's next-generation AI infrastructure. In physical AI and robotics, Nvidia launched Cosmos 3 Edge for on-device vision reasoning, and companies including FANUC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kubota, NEC, SoftBank, Sony Group, and Yaskawa Electric plan to join the Nvidia Cosmos Coalition to develop open physical AI models. In healthcare, Astellas Pharma, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, Ono Pharmaceutical, and Takeda Pharmaceutical are deploying Nvidia BioNeMo for AI-powered drug discovery, while Canon and Fujifilm introduced Nvidia-powered next-generation CT systems, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is advancing AI-enabled surgical and hospital robots. In financial services, Mizuho Financial plans Japan's largest on-premises AI factory for banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial has deployed an AI factory through Japan Research Institute, and Rakuten Bank is developing AI transaction foundation models using Nvidia Agent Toolkit. Huang emphasized that the next wave of AI will be physical AI—robots, factories, vehicles, and industrial systems that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world—and said Japan's leadership in robotics, manufacturing, and precision engineering positions it to play a leading role in this transition.

Fujitsu announced it has begun exploring business opportunities in the physical AI field together with Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. By incorporating NVIDIA technology, the companies aim to build a sovereign AI foundation that bridges the digital and physical worlds.

US semiconductor giant Nvidia announced on the 16th, coinciding with CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Japan, a series of expanded partnerships with Japanese companies including Fujitsu and Toyota Motor. With Fujitsu, it will jointly explore commercialization in areas such as factories, retail, and logistics, together with Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It will provide technical cooperation for Toyota Motor's Woven City test course, and collaborate with Hitachi on realizing a system that integrates and controls entire sites such as factories and power plants. These initiatives will promote the social implementation of physical AI, which can be utilized for robot operations and other applications.

Frost & Sullivan has awarded Fujitsu the 2026 Asia-Pacific Enabling Technology Leadership Recognition for its quantum-inspired computing innovation. The recognition highlights Fujitsu's leadership in advancing quantum-inspired computing, its hybrid computing strategy, and its scalable solutions like the Digital Annealer that address complex optimization challenges across manufacturing, logistics, financial services, and energy. Frost & Sullivan evaluated Fujitsu on strategy effectiveness and execution, noting its ability to align advanced computing with enterprise demand and scale across diverse Asia-Pacific markets. Fujitsu's customer engagement model includes workshops, trial access, and proof-of-concept initiatives to help organizations deploy quantum-inspired solutions with reduced risk.