A new joint development center in San Jose, California, will serve as the base for a robotics and physical AI initiative between Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Nvidia $NVDA, Nikkei first reported.

The center will bring together additional technology partners beyond Nvidia, according to Reuters. Analog Devices $ADI, Microsoft $MSFT, and Fujitsu will also participate in the effort.

Medical and mobility applications are slated to be the initial priorities, according to Reuters. One planned project would see Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Corleo — a quadrupedal personal mobility robot still in development — benefit from Nvidia's simulation tools.

The partnership comes as Nvidia continues to expand beyond its core chip business into physical AI — a category that involves AI systems operating in the real world through robotics and autonomous machines. Nvidia reported record revenue of $81.6 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, up 85% from a year ago, driven by surging demand for its AI chips.

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