Japan's largest mobile payment service PayPay has formed a strategic partnership with Visa to enter the US market. With 72 million users and roughly 70% of Japan's QR code payment market share, PayPay plans to launch a dual-mode digital wallet supporting both NFC and QR code payments, starting in California. Here's how Japan and the world are reacting.
SoftBank subsidiary SAIMEMORY partners with Intel to develop ZAM (Z-Angle Memory), a next-generation memory technology targeting 2-3x the capacity of HBM at half the power consumption. Discover how this revolutionary vertical stacking architecture aims to disrupt the Korean-dominated AI memory market and revive Japan's semiconductor legacy.
SoftBank accelerates its net-zero journey with AI-powered base station sleep control saving 5 million kWh annually and hybrid solar-wind self-powered stations. Learn how Japan's telecom giant is revolutionizing green infrastructure.
Sharp's iconic Sakai LCD factory, once the symbol of "LCD Sharp," is being transformed into one of Asia's largest AI data centers by KDDI and SoftBank. By repurposing the massive power and cooling infrastructure from the ¥430 billion facility, they brought a cutting-edge AI hub online in under a year, a powerful symbol of Japan's industrial transformation in the AI era.
Japan's ¥3 trillion ($20 billion) public-private push for domestic AI is underway. Noetra, a new company founded by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group, and Honda, has been selected for ¥387.3 billion in government support for fiscal 2026. A look at Japan's bid to build a 1-trillion-parameter foundation model and physical AI.