TOKYO - Japanese companies announced new cybersecurity services, investment products and technology initiatives on July 14, while earnings releases highlighted sharply different conditions across the housing and food-import sectors.
SoftBank Corp. said it will expand the planned rollout of its artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity service to around 3,000 major Japanese companies, as businesses face growing pressure to identify and repair software vulnerabilities more quickly.
The service, known as "Patching as a Service," was developed with SB OAI Japan, the joint venture established by SoftBank and OpenAI. It covers vulnerability assessments, remediation planning and support for applying security patches.
SoftBank said it will establish an Enterprise AI Cyber Defense Office on July 16 and deploy a team of approximately 1,000 personnel with SB OAI Japan to provide the patching service and related consulting. The company tested the system on its own internal infrastructure before expanding it to customers.
The announcement is part of SoftBank's broader effort to turn generative AI technology into services for large Japanese companies rather than limiting its use to workplace assistants and document creation. Cybersecurity is expected to become a major commercial application because many companies struggle to assess vulnerabilities and apply patches across complex internal systems.
Hitachi Solutions separately announced that it had conducted a technology verification project involving post-quantum cryptography, which is designed to protect data against future attacks using quantum computers.
The company said the initiative was intended to prepare systems for an era in which existing encryption methods could become vulnerable to the processing power of quantum technology. Although commercially useful quantum computers capable of breaking widely used encryption are not yet available, companies and governments are beginning preparations because replacing encryption across major systems could take years.
Nomura Asset Management launched a new actively managed exchange-traded fund on the Tokyo Stock Exchange targeting Japanese companies connected to government-designated growth industries.
The NEXT FUNDS Japan Equity Policy Focus ETF began trading under securities code 605A. The fund will select companies involved in priority policy areas by analyzing how much of each company's revenue is generated from businesses related to those themes.
The ETF carries an annual management fee of 0.5225%, including tax. Nomura said the product is intended to capture growth associated with government-backed strategic industries rather than simply tracking a broad stock index.
The launch reflects growing investor interest in Japanese companies involved in semiconductors, AI, defense, energy security, advanced manufacturing and other sectors receiving greater government support.
In corporate earnings, Lacto Japan reported higher sales but a sharp decline in profits for the six months through May.
The food importer and distributor recorded sales of 97.866 billion yen, up 2.7% from a year earlier. Operating profit fell 22.1% to 2.781 billion yen, while ordinary profit dropped 35.4% to 2.475 billion yen. Net profit attributable to shareholders declined 37.5% to 1.748 billion yen.
The company said its dairy ingredients and cheese operations were affected by weak domestic demand, inventory conditions and lower margins. Expenses also increased because of personnel, distribution and head-office relocation costs.
Its life sciences business performed more strongly, with sales rising 67.1% as the company expanded sales of high-protein ingredients. Lacto Japan left its full-year earnings and dividend forecasts unchanged.
TamaHome reported declining annual sales and profits as weakness in its main custom-built housing business outweighed growth in property operations.
Revenue for the year ended May fell 1.5% to 197.74 billion yen, while operating profit declined 6.6% to 3.842 billion yen. The company said fewer completed custom-built homes reduced revenue, although its property business recorded higher sales and earnings.
The housing company expects a substantial recovery in the current year as it works to strengthen earnings across its operations. Japan's homebuilders continue to face pressure from higher construction costs, labor shortages and a long-term decline in the number of households purchasing newly built detached homes.
Japan also secured another major semiconductor investment as Israel-based Tower Semiconductor announced plans to spend $3 billion expanding manufacturing in the country.
The project will receive around $1 billion in grants from the Japanese government and will focus on silicon photonics and silicon-germanium technology used in AI systems, data centers and energy-efficient semiconductor devices.
Tower plans to convert its Arai facility for 300-millimeter silicon photonics production, with full operations targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027. It will simultaneously begin developing another 300-millimeter production facility beside its existing Fab 7 plant.
The announcement adds to a series of government-backed semiconductor projects aimed at rebuilding Japan's chip-manufacturing capacity and reducing dependence on overseas supply chains.
