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SoftBank has entered a joint research partnership with five other Japanese companies to develop a quantum-computing-based materials development platform, a project that has been officially selected for funding by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The partnership brings together the Japanese telecom operator with the country's major industrial leaders in chemicals, automotive components, materials, and printing, including AGC Inc., Toppan Holdings, Aisin Corporation, Asahi Kasei and DIC Corporation.

The six companies will combine quantum computing capabilities with AI technologies to build a next-generation materials development platform. The core idea is to integrate quantum-computing-based calculations with AI tools to accelerate and improve the process of discovering and developing new materials.

The project was selected in response to NEDO's call for proposals for the ''Research and Development Project of Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems".

The project is set to run from fiscal year 2026 (ending March 31, 2027) through fiscal year 2028, giving the consortium roughly two to three years to develop and validate the platform.

SoftBank's role is to connect quantum computers and supercomputers through a unified platform to generate material-development data, build AI-based data utilization technologies, and run demonstrations that optimize material development across multiple fields.

The platform seeks to validate quantum computing's applicability across key high-demand materials, including next-generation battery materials, optical materials for new displays and sensors, and superconducting materials for future devices.

The platform will also heavily rely on a continuous feedback loop. Materials will be physically synthesized based on quantum computing simulations, and the resulting experimental data will be fed back into the system to increase predictive software accuracy.

Maintaining global competitiveness

In a joint statement, SoftBank said that developing technologies to dramatically improve the discovery of new materials and the efficiency of their development is an urgent priority.

"In recent years, progress has been made in data-driven approaches – where AI predicts and explores new materials based on historical materials data – as well as computational science simulations based on physical laws," the Japanese operator said. "However, while data-driven methods face a challenge in securing sufficient, high-quality, and high-precision training data, computational science faces the issue of surging computational costs for higher accuracy and larger scale calculations."

According to SoftBank, quantum computers could simulate molecular and electron behavior more efficiently than traditional computers. However, present-day limitations in qubit scalability and error correction prevent large-scale computations from being carried out using quantum computers alone.

To mitigate these limitations, the project will combine quantum computing with AI-driven methods to reduce constraints related to the precision and scale of calculations. This is intended to drastically collapse the R&D cycle from theoretical molecular design down to physical verification.

"Rather than targeting a single specific material, the materials development technologies will be applied cross-sectionally across a broad range of industrially vital materials systems. Each of the six companies will handle verification in their respective domains of strength," SoftBank said, adding that the companies will also team up with specialized quantum computing institutions to test how well this approach works across different materials, with the aim of creating real, practical value for industry.

This project aligns with SoftBank's broader strategic initiative to develop practical industrial applications of quantum computing in Japan. It complements SoftBank's other efforts in this area, such as its collaboration with Quantinuum to create a roadmap linking quantum algorithms, hardware evolution and commercial use cases. These efforts establish SoftBank as a key player in transitioning quantum technologies from the research stage to real-world industrial use.