SoftBank is building Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer using NVIDIA’s Blackwell platform with plans to upgrade to the Grace Blackwell platform. This supercomputer will drive AI development in Japan, supporting research institutions, universities, and businesses. As the country’s top-performing AI infrastructure, it will support large language model development and various AI-driven initiatives.
In another collaboration with NVIDIA, SoftBank recently piloted the first AI-5G network, or AI-RAN, using the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform. The AI-RAN combines 5G and AI in a telecom network to generate new revenue opportunities for telecommunications providers. A recent trial in Kanagawa confirmed carrier-grade 5G performance, enabling telcos to monetize unused network capacity for AI inference workloads.
Furthering its AI initiatives, SoftBank, using NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, is creating a secure AI marketplace. This platform is expected to serve as an AI grid for Japan, addressing the country’s demand for local AI compute. This new ecosystem enables rapid deployment of AI-driven services across multiple industries, from healthcare to robotics, creating broad opportunities for economic growth.
• SoftBank is building Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer with NVIDIA Blackwell and Grace Blackwell platforms.
• AI-RAN trial in Kanagawa reached carrier-grade 5G performance, allowing telcos to monetize network capacity for AI workloads.
• SoftBank’s new AI marketplace will provide secure, localized AI compute and serve as Japan’s AI grid.
• Telcos are expected to generate approximately $5 in AI revenue per $1 invested in AI-RAN.
• Partners for the AI-RAN trial include Fujitsu and Red Hat.
“Japan has a long history of pioneering technological innovations with global impact,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With SoftBank’s significant investment in NVIDIA’s full-stack AI, Omniverse and 5G AI-RAN platforms, Japan is leaping into the AI industrial revolution to become a global leader, driving a new era of growth across the telecommunications, transportation, robotics and healthcare industries in ways that will greatly benefit humankind in the age of AI.”
“Countries and regions worldwide are accelerating the adoption of AI for social and economic growth, and society is undergoing significant transformation,” said Junichi Miyakawa, president and CEO of SoftBank. “Through our long collaboration with NVIDIA, SoftBank is leading this transformation from the forefront. With our extremely powerful AI infrastructure and our new, distributed AI-RAN solution ‘AITRAS’ that reinvents 5G networks for AI, we will accelerate innovation across the country and throughout the world.”
