NVIDIA and Fujitsu have announced an expansion of their strategic collaboration to advance enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence and drive industrial transformation in New Zealand.

The initiative centres on developing a full-stack AI infrastructure aimed at enabling local organisations to develop, deploy, and retain control over their own industry-specific AI agents. This will allow businesses to construct AI models tailored to local market conditions, automate complex processes, and improve productivity across a range of sectors including manufacturing and healthcare.

AI infrastructure

According to the companies, the collaboration will focus on both software and hardware co-development. It involves delivering an AI agent platform tailored for industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and robotics, along with a robust AI computing infrastructure that integrates Fujitsu’s next-generation FUJITSU-MONAKA Central Processing Units (CPUs) with NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) via NVLink Fusion technology.

The full-stack AI system is designed to facilitate the development of AI agents that continuously learn and improve, with aims to create cross-industry, self-evolving infrastructure and address the limitations associated with general-purpose computing systems. A central aspect of the deployment is Fujitsu’s ARM-based Monaka processor, which is anticipated for release in 2027 and is expected to deliver twice the performance and energy efficiency of chips available at the time of launch. This could result in significant reductions in data centre costs related to running AI workloads.

Industry applications

The strategic collaboration is designed to accelerate the industrial application of AI in New Zealand and globally, starting from Japan. By providing the underlying framework, the initiative intends to foster greater autonomy for businesses and organisations in developing and deploying AI technologies that address their specific needs.

Mahesh Krishnan, CTO of Fujitsu Oceania, said, “Fujitsu has a long history of driving technology innovation globally and here in Australia and New Zealand. By combining Fujitsu’s computing power with NVIDIA’s AI platform, this expanded partnership will make high-performance AI more accessible. This empowers local businesses to harness cutting-edge AI agents and computing power to tackle their most pressing challenges, from supply chain disruption to skills shortages. It will drive a new wave of sovereign innovation, ensuring they can lead and thrive on the global stage.”

The anticipated AI agent platform utilised within this infrastructure will be founded on multi-tenancy support for balancing speed and security, leveraging Fujitsu’s Kozuchi platform, AI workload orchestrator technology, and the NVIDIA Dynamo platform. AI agents and models delivered through this approach will be customisable and capable of adapting to specific industry conditions and customer requirements, supporting accelerated adoption of AI across sectors.

Leaders comment on AI adoption

Takahito Tokita, Representative Director, CEO of Fujitsu, said, “Fujitsu’s strategic collaboration with NVIDIA will accelerate AI-driven business transformation in enterprise and government sectors. By combining the cutting-edge technologies of both companies, we will develop and provide full-stack AI infrastructure, starting with sectors such as manufacturing where Japan is a global leader. To further support the expanding needs of AI infrastructure, Fujitsu and NVIDIA will expand this partnership in the areas of high-performance computing and quantum.”

The partnership also seeks to develop a comprehensive ecosystem to support the use and expansion of AI agents and models. This structure is expected to amplify AI utilisation through joint partner programmes and the development of transformative use cases initially focused on sectors such as robotics, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA, said, “The AI industrial revolution has begun, and we must build the infrastructure to power it – in Japan and across the globe. Fujitsu is a true pioneer in computing and Japan’s trusted leader in supercomputing, quantum research, and enterprise systems. Together, NVIDIA and Fujitsu are connecting and extending our ecosystems to forge a powerful partnership for the era of AI.”

Future perspective

Through this expanded collaboration, Fujitsu and NVIDIA aim to unlock new AI markets, particularly in domains that have faced challenges with previous technologies. The companies state that the initiative will establish AI as a core component of New Zealand’s and Japan’s digital infrastructure by 2030, supporting business growth and contributing to broader social objectives.

Physical AI-defined as AI systems capable of perceiving and acting in real-world environments through sensors and actuators-is one application area highlighted for further development within the scope of this collaboration. The companies aim to drive the societal implementation of such technologies, particularly in robotics, as part of their contribution to customer and societal advancement.