Japan's economy ministry will provide financial support to domestic companies for processing vast amounts of data for machine learning. The focus is on manufacturing sector data to enhance the performance of domestically developed AI, strengthening product competitiveness and productivity. The ministry plans to invest ¥1 trillion over five years starting from fiscal 2026.
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI) will subsidize costs for domestic companies to pre-process their vast data into forms suitable for machine learning in AI. Manufacturers hold extensive information from production processes and records of automobile and equipment operations, which a ministry official described as "Japan’s most critical resource for AI development and implementation."
This support will utilize a portion of the approximately ¥150 billion allocated in the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget for strengthening AI development capabilities. Traditionally, AI developers have relied on publicly available internet data for training, but sources predict depletion as early as 2026. Meanwhile, an estimated 60% of the world’s data is held internally by companies, with the majority still unused for training.
AI developers are now negotiating with businesses for data access; major Japanese manufacturers are being approached by overseas firms, and in China, advanced factories integrating data and AI have emerged. The ministry has determined that Japan risks falling behind in the global data race without intervention.
AI is poised to play a pivotal role in fields such as autonomous driving for vehicles, robots, and improving efficiency on factory production lines. By leveraging corporate data to enhance AI performance, Japan can create a virtuous cycle that bolsters industrial competitiveness.
