Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Movements to form corporate alliances across different industries are gathering pace, centered on physical AI, in which robots and automobiles move autonomously through artificial intelligence. Five companies including the herbal medicine maker Tsumura and the machinery trading firm Yamazen have recently opened a data collection center for physical AI in Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture, where up to 40 robots will repeatedly perform tasks to train robots capable of acting autonomously. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fanuc, and Yaskawa Electric, Japan's three major robot makers, are partnering with Fujitsu and the American company Nvidia, while about 20 companies including Kyocera, Kobe Steel, and the software developer Alm are pooling data and expertise with the aim of automating the processing techniques of skilled engineers. Noetra, in which 44 companies including SoftBank and NEC participate, is independently developing an AI foundation model that will serve as the brain of physical AI, aiming for practical application in fiscal 2030, and the government has decided to provide more than 380 billion yen in support for the project this fiscal year.

Malta Inc. announced a capital and business alliance agreement with Kobe Steel, Ltd., under which Kobe Steel has made a strategic investment in the cleantech company and joined its global investor base. The alliance pairs Malta's proprietary ultra-high temperature heat pump technology with Kobe Steel's decades of experience in compression solutions, with the companies intending to combine their technologies, expertise, and know-how to accelerate development, commercialization, and widespread adoption of Malta's solutions for industrial energy cost reduction, process reliability, decarbonization, waste heat recovery, and energy storage. Philippe Delleville, President and CEO of Malta Inc., said Kobe Steel's leadership in steam compression technology is highly complementary to Malta's steam management platform and will help accelerate commercialization of its heat pump technology for industry and its implementation in grid-scale energy storage. For Kobe Steel, the investment aligns with green transformation initiatives under its KOBELCO-X strategy, while for Malta the partnership strengthens its investor base as it scales commercial deployment. Malta, which originated from X, formerly Google X, is backed by Kobe Steel, Cox Energy, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, X, Siemens Energy Ventures, Alfa Laval, Proman, and Chevron Technology Ventures, among other investors.