SoftBank and OpenAI have launched a new joint venture in Japan, named SB OAI Japan, aimed at localizing and distributing OpenAI’s enterprise technologies to Japanese businesses. The venture, owned equally by both companies, will introduce a new “Crystal Intelligence” platform — an integrated AI solution designed to enhance productivity and management efficiency across corporate operations.
The first customer for SB OAI Japan will be SoftBank itself, which plans to deploy the technology across its subsidiaries to validate performance before extending it to other enterprises. SoftBank said its employees are already using AI extensively, with more than 2.5 million custom ChatGPT instances developed internally.
The initiative deepens SoftBank’s multibillion-dollar commitment to AI investment and infrastructure, reflecting Japan’s accelerating adoption of enterprise AI tools amid growing global scrutiny of escalating AI valuations.
