NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visited Japan to demonstrate how the country can leverage its world-leading manufacturing expert
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder and CEO, spent time in Tokyo this week meeting with Japan's technology leaders, developers, scientists, entrepreneurs and investors. Rather than starting with formal meetings, Huang made an unannounced visit to the Build-a-Claw event at Studio Koku, a modern event space within Happo-en, a traditional Japanese garden in central Tokyo. Japanese developers had gathered there to build robots using open models and NVIDIA's platform, putting physical AI through its paces. When Huang arrived unexpectedly, he spent time on the floor talking directly with builders and watching the technology work.
"Forty years ago was the beginning of the PC revolution. Now, forty years later, instead of a personal computer, you can now have your own personal AI," Huang told the assembled developers. "I'm happy that all of you are here to build your own claw, your own agent." He gave away two autographed NVIDIA DGX Spark personal AI supercomputers to winners of a lucky draw, describing them as works of love that enable people to build their own personal AI.
At a press event later that day, Huang addressed Japan's strategic position in the global AI era. He highlighted how Japan's historical strengths in precision manufacturing and large-scale production combine powerfully with AI to create opportunities in robotics and intelligent manufacturing. "You can combine the two technologies and create robotics. The future of intelligent manufacturing, the future of robotics can now start," he said. He also noted that AI and robotics can help address Japan's worker shortage by augmenting existing workers and increasing national productivity.
That evening, Huang hosted more than thirty senior executives from sixteen of Japan's premier supply chain companies at an izakaya in Tokyo's Kanda district. The companies represented included ADVANTEST Corporation, Tokyo Electron, KYOCERA Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, Murata Manufacturing, Panasonic, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Sumitomo Electric Industries, TAIYO YUDEN, TDK Corporation, Kioxia Corporation, Mitsui, Asahi Kasei, Nittobo, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Shibaura. These conversations focused on building an AI-led future for Japan and the world.
On Thursday, Huang had lunch with the CEOs of Fujitsu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, FANUC and Yaskawa — four companies that build robots and industrial systems deployed in factories across Japan and globally. These companies represent the robotics backbone of Japanese industry and are now building on the NVIDIA platform. Takahito Tokita, president and CEO of Fujitsu Limited, remarked afterward that although the companies come from different countries and industries, they share common values centered on sustainable development. "We make business decisions not only for the benefit of our own companies, but also with the sustainable development of our industries and ultimately the world in mind," he said.
At the Physical AI Initiative kick-off event held at Prince Park Tower, near Tokyo Tower, Huang joined Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, to launch a government-backed physical AI initiative. The initiative brings together manufacturing expertise, real-world industrial data and global technology leaders to develop open multimodal foundation models for AI agents, digital twins, robotics and physical AI applications.
Later that evening, Huang attended an NVIDIA Japan AI ecosystem celebration at Happo-en, where he gathered with startups, partners, government officials, policymakers and press. Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology joined Huang for a toast. The event showcased the full spectrum of Japan's AI ecosystem, from early-stage founders building on NVIDIA's platform to institutions shaping Japan's AI policy.
During his visit, Huang met with SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa and the company's leadership team to align on their next phase of work in AI-native networks and physical AI. SoftBank demonstrated its deployment of NVIDIA's full technology stack — from GB200-class AI infrastructure and NVIDIA RTX PRO-based AI RAN using the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform to NVIDIA Nemotron-based large telecom models — to transform its communications network into an intelligence delivery network. The companies confirmed joint initiatives to drive Japanese innovation through open models including NVIDIA Nemotron and SB Intuitions' generative AI model series Sarashina, while advancing physical AI with partners like Yaskawa Electric Corporation using NVIDIA Cosmos and Isaac GR00T.
Japan's healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are also embracing AI-powered advancement. Japanese innovators are deploying NVIDIA technology across medicine, from autonomous surgical robots to AI-accelerated CT systems, agentic drug discovery platforms and virtual cell models. Tokyo-1, an AI drug discovery consortium and platform operated by Xeureka, continues to expand with Eisai joining in April, bringing together leading pharma companies Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo and Ono Pharmaceuticals. All are advancing drug discovery using NVIDIA BioNeMo. Astellas has deployed nearly all BioNeMo NIM microservices within NVIDIA's digital biology portfolio and is running BioNeMo Agent Toolkit, NVIDIA's open platform that transforms any AI agent into an autonomous life sciences scientist.