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Nvidia just expanded its footprint in Japan with a sweeping set of partnerships targeting robotics and AI across healthcare, manufacturing, and drug discovery. The ecosystem showcase, announced on July 15, features collaborations with heavyweights like Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Canon, Astellas, and Daiichi Sankyo.
What Nvidia is actually building in Japan
The partnerships center on integrating several of Nvidia’s core AI platforms into Japanese robotics and industrial systems. Kawasaki Heavy Industries plans to incorporate Nvidia’s Isaac and Holoscan technologies into robots called FORRO and NURABOT, which are designed for surgical support and hospital assistance.
On the pharmaceutical side, Astellas and Daiichi Sankyo are leveraging Nvidia’s technology stack for AI-driven drug discovery and advanced medical imaging. Both companies are actively deploying the tools as of 2026.
Canon is also part of the ecosystem, along with companies like OMRON and Hitachi, which are implementing Nvidia’s Metropolis platform for vision AI applications across public infrastructure and industrial settings.
Other participants include the Japan Science and Technology Agency, whose Moonshot project aims to develop caregiving robots using Nvidia’s Isaac Sim, with a timeline stretching out to 2050.
Why Japan, and why now
Nvidia has been laying the groundwork here for a while. In October 2025, the company struck an AI infrastructure agreement with Fujitsu, targeting developments through 2030. Two months later, in December 2025, Nvidia and FANUC announced a partnership to embed physical AI into industrial robots.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has also been building a Silicon Valley robotics center in collaboration with Nvidia, part of a broader commitment to nurturing AI infrastructure in Japan by 2030.
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