KDDI joins physical AI with ELYZA Robotics; 1,000+ robots by FY2030

Japan's three major telecom carriers arrived at physical AI through different routes. SoftBank's December 2025 partnership with Yaskawa Electric splits the work: SoftBank develops the MEC (multi-access edge computing) environment near base stations and the AI that assigns tasks, while Yaskawa handles the robots and the AI turning instructions into motion. NTT, in the same month, said it would invest in Mujin alongside NTT Docomo Business; it has also demonstrated remote plant inspection using robots over its IOWN optical network across roughly 700 kilometers between Okayama and Tokyo. KDDI, for its part, plans to combine its nationwide low-latency network with its "Digital Belt" computing infrastructure.

The common thread is that physical AI moves heavy computation off the robot. Cameras send footage to computers near data centers or base stations, and AI returns instructions, a round trip that needs stable, low-latency connectivity. Each robot therefore consumes communications and computing resources continuously, which is where the carriers' revenue comes in.

KDDI's stated target is to deploy 1,000 or more robots in the field by fiscal 2030. Whether the three carriers' bets pay off likely depends on how widely physical AI robots are actually adopted in factories and stores.