NVIDIA & Japan: The World's First National AI Infrastructure

The Japanese Government, alongside industrial leaders and NVIDIA, has launched what could be the world's first national AI infrastructure, designed to support physical AI applications.

The project is set to deliver 140MW of data centre capacity based on NVIDIA's DSX platform.

NVIDIA has announced its collaboration with Japanese AI consortium Noetra to launch an NVIDIA Vera Rubin AI factory, supporting the Japanese Government's physical AI ambitions.

The initiative is backed by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for its FRONTia Project. The project is aimed at strengthening Japan's AI ecosystem, supporting AI agents, digital twins and Japan's newly released targets for industrial robotics.

Japan's AI Robotics Strategy, released in March 2025, sets a goal for the country to capture more than 30% of the global AI robotics market by 2040, representing an estimated US$133bn opportunity.

Japan is the world's number-one industrial robot manufacturer, delivering 45% of the global supply, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). However, China is emerging as a key player. It is the world's largest robotics market, representing 54% of global deployments.

Data centre infrastructure requirements

NVIDIA has announced it would partner with Noetra to build the NVIDIA Vera Rubin AI factory with 13,750 Vera CPUs and 27,500 Rubin GPUs.

Noetra is an AI consortium supported by the Japanese government whose private sector backers include Honda and Softbank.

NVIDIA is laying the hardware and compute foundation for the project, which is set to rapidly increase the pace of Japan's AI ambitions.

Physical AI applications, such as robotics, demand massive amounts of electrical grid power to support the advanced AI chips required to run them. The project is set to deliver 140MW of data centre capacity based on NVIDIA's DSX platform, highlighting the scale of infrastructure needed to support national AI strategies.

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, says: "Japan invented modern manufacturing. Now, it is building the AI factories that will power the next industrial revolution.

"NVIDIA is honoured to partner with Japan and its industrial leaders to build the AI infrastructure that will power the country's industries, its economy and a new generation of innovation."

The initiative is aimed at strengthening the country's AI ecosystem across industries including manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and telecommunications.

Computing foundation for physical AI

The new AI factory, established by Japan's Noetra, will be architected with NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 racks using the NVIDIA DSX platform, connected and scaled with NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking.

It will enable the development of open multimodal foundation models that power AI agents, digital twins, robotics and other physical AI applications.

The NVIDIA Vera Rubin AI factory will provide the computing foundation for Japan's FRONTia Project.

"Bringing physical AI into the real world requires enormous computing, data and foundational technologies, challenges no single company can solve alone," says Hironobu Tamba, CEO of Noetra.

Speaking about the collaboration with NVIDIA, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, says: "Japan has launched the FRONTia Project, which will serve as the core of the country's physical AI ecosystem.

"By fostering collaboration between Japan and leading global innovators, including NVIDIA and leveraging Japan's strengths, such as its onsite expertise and manufacturing technology infrastructure, we will build highly reliable multimodal foundation models and contribute to solving global social challenges."

According to the Japanese news service NHK, the industry ministry decided to commission the project, which is worth ¥380bn (US$2.3bn), to Noetra and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

Market competition in physical AI

As Japan builds the computing and hardware capacity needed to power physical AI applications, its robotics strategy says the country aims to capture more than 30% of the global AI robotics market by 2040.

According to NHK, Japan's industry ministry aims to introduce about 10 million AI-equipped robots across 18 sectors by 2040 amid the country's growing labour shortage.

While Japan retains its position as the largest robot manufacturer, China leads on installations. The latest IFR figures show that 295,000 industrial robots have been installed in China, while Japan, the second largest market for industrial robots, installed 44,500 units in 2024.

China's domestic manufacturing is growing too. According to the IFR's World Robotics 2025 Report, for the first time, Chinese manufacturers sold more factory robots than foreign manufacturers at home in 2024. Its share climbed to 57% across industries, up from 47% in 2023.

Japan remains a major robotics exporter to China, with more than a third of Japanese exports of robotics and automation technology destined for the Chinese market, according to the IFR's most recent available data.