Key facts
- SoftBank Corp. and NTT DATA Group Corp. have co-founded the xIPF Consortium with other Japanese organizations.
- The consortium is developing a decentralized computing infrastructure to integrate AI and data across corporate and geographic boundaries.
- The initiative aims to create an 'AI Space' for secure, real-time data processing without centralized data pooling.
- SoftBank's 'Cristal intelligence' will be deployed through a joint venture with OpenAI.
- The consortium targets applications in logistics, mobility, energy management, and urban planning.
SoftBank Corp. and NTT DATA Group Corp. are spearheading a new initiative to build a nationwide platform for artificial intelligence and data sharing. The xIPF Consortium, formed with several other Japanese companies and research groups, aims to create a decentralized computing infrastructure that integrates AI and data across corporate and geographic boundaries.
The consortium's goal is to establish an 'AI Space,' a decentralized environment connecting edge devices to cloud systems. This architecture is designed to process sensitive, real-time data across multiple organizations without the need for centralized data pooling, addressing limitations of current data platforms.
The technology underpinning this initiative is the cross Integrated Platform (xIPF), a decentralized computing system developed by SoftBank. This system integrates enterprise AI platforms, large language models, and existing organizational data systems. Potential applications for this shared infrastructure include logistics, mobility, energy management, and urban planning.
Noboru Koshizuka, professor at the University of Tokyo and representative director of the consortium, stated that AI will play a crucial role in a data-driven society and that creating an environment for safe utilization of sensitive, real-time data can offer new solutions to societal issues.
SoftBank Corp.'s President & CEO, Junichi Miyakawa, has also outlined the company's broader AI vision. This includes deploying 'Cristal intelligence,' an advanced Enterprise AI, through a joint venture with OpenAI. SoftBank also plans to develop its own Japanese-language Large Language Models (LLMs), collaborate with Microsoft Japan on generative AI, and offer Google's Gemini to enterprise customers. The company is also investing in AI computation platforms and data centers across Japan, including in Hokkaido and Osaka Prefectures, and developing AI-enabled base stations for distributed computing.