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We will continue to lead at the forefront of "digital,"
which continues to evolve with the times.
By anticipating, connecting, and incorporating new "digital" trends,
we aim to create new value and businesses and contribute to society.
We will incorporate AI technology, which is particularly important in today's age,
into all our businesses, and continue to surprise and
delight our customers and partners.
KDDI will continue to innovate and embrace challenges to
expand the possibilities of the future.
We will refine and enhance our three technological domains and lead the creation of both business and social value for the future through technological innovation.
KDDI is committed to technological innovation by discovering advanced technology for the next era and promoting their implementation in society.
Additionally, we focus on creating and acquiring advanced technologies through our R&D centers that engage in world-leading research, and to promoting open innovation.
Telecommunication is now integrated into all industries and people's lives, becoming an increasingly indispensable part of social infrastructure.
Since the introduction of 5G in 2020, KDDI has been actively expanding the 5G connectivity infrastructure to enhance everyday life for our customers. By March 2024, the number of 5G base stations have expanded to approximately 94,000 (including about 39,000 Sub6 base stations). Moreover, we have improved the output of Sub6 base stations and optimized the antenna angles, which will expand the Sub6 coverage area by approximately 2.8 times, mainly in the Kanto region, to achieve high-speed communication. Furthermore, by utilizing SpaceX's Starlink, KDDI is working to expand au's coverage to mountainous regions and island areas, where installing base stations is difficult.
The evolution of our communication network is also crucial. The number of base stations and the variety of equipment in 5G services are enormous, so the response methods for faults have become more complex in turn. By automating these complex processes, we aim to create a telecommunications network that remains connected at all times. Moreover, in anticipation of an era where AI usage becomes standard, we are promoting the virtualization and openness of telecommunication facilities and accelerating the integration of AI technology into network operations. Through these efforts, we are advancing initiatives to evolve communications networks into ones that are even more flexible and reliable.
To provide high-speed and stable telecommunications services in busy areas such as downtowns, stations, and stadiums, where an increase in telecommunications traffic is anticipated, KDDI is working on utilizing the higher-frequency band known as "millimeter waves," which can transmit more information. Given the characteristics of millimeter waves-specifically, their limited range and their vulnerability to obstacles such as buildings— KDDI is developing technology to efficiently deploy millimeter-wave technology in designated areas. The goal is to achieve practical implementation by fiscal 2025..
To expand au's coverage across Japan, including mountainous and island regions, KDDI aims to fully launch direct communication services between Starlink satellites and au smartphones around spring 2025. KDDI is helping to develop regulations related to radio waves by actively providing technical information. In October 2024, a successful demonstration test was conducted, and in December 2024, KDDI received a license from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to implement the service.
To appropriately respond to the continuously increasing telecommunications traffic and diversifying demands for telecommunications quality, the next-generation network needs to be capable of expansion in a flexible and agile way. KDDI is promoting the virtualization and openness of its network infrastructure, constructing a "scale-out network" that offers high flexibility and reliability while incorporating the latest technologies.
Through international standardization activities, KDDI is promoting the practical application of advanced technologies, integrating them into the telecommunications network, and advancing a sustainable cycle of operation and maintenance. To ensure that KDDI's telecommunications network maintains international compatibility, we participate in de jure standardization activities including those organized by the ITU. This helps to establish frameworks and to refine domestic regulations. Moreover, to continually evolve the telecommunications network through promoting network virtualization and openness, KDDI actively participates in standardization in industry organizations and forums such as GSMA, 3GPP, O-RAN, and TIP.
The world is poised to make great strides with the rapid evolution of AI. In light of this, KDDI aims to address various social issues in Japan by combining telecommunications and AI.
So far, KDDI has brought convenience to society through its telecommunications business. We have established 4G and 5G communication infrastructures, popularized smartphones, and collaborated with partners to provide various applications and services.
AI also has a similar business structure to telecommunications, where diverse AI systems are built on foundational large-scale computing platforms, offering applications across various fields.
KDDI aims to leverage the technologies and expertise cultivated through telecommunications to vertically integrate the AI business, promote the social implementation of AI, and build the social infrastructure for the AI era.
KDDI is constructing an AI data center at the former Sharp Sakai factory site, aiming for full-scale operation by the end of fiscal 2025. Additionally, by equipping KDDI's eight domestic communication centers with AI computing resources, we will establish a reliable infrastructure for AI usage that meets the needs of customers requiring low latency. Furthermore, to reduce the power consumption for server cooling at the AI data center, we are considering the introduction of a water cooling system. These AI infrastructures will be made available to startups and partners, accelerating co-creation of AI-driven businesses and services, and helping to enhance industrial competitiveness.
In collaboration with ELYZA, Inc., a leading company in R&D as well as social implementation of LLMs in Japan, KDDI is accelerating the development of Japan’s highest-performance general-purpose Japanese LLM leveraging open models. In addition, we will advance the development of domain-specific LLMs that improve and customize performance in each company, industry, and business, and provide them in combination with the assets related to DX development and support held by the KDDI Group. KDDI will expand the introduction of generative AI to more companies and local governments, supporting operational efficiency and productivity improvement.
Starting in March 2024, KDDI became the first major company in Japan to launch customer support via a generative AI chatbot on the LINE account "au Support." We aim to enable customers to resolve issues quickly and without stress. Additionally, KDDI, Artius Link, and ELYZA have developed an LLM application specifically designed for contact center operations, providing it as a standard feature of "Altius ONE for Support" from September 2024, supporting customer business transformation.
The spread of 5G and AI has expanded the uses of telecommunications, rapidly increasing telecommunications traffic volume and the number of connections, and making demands for telecommunications quality more diverse. In line with this demand, KDDI has introduced a fault detection system using AI and plans to expand the use of AI to include fault cause identification and fault recovery, aiming to improve the reliability of its telecommunications network. In addition, to quickly provide new telecommunication services to customers, KDDI aims to set up "Autonomous Networks" by using AI and machine learning to automate telecommunications network operations and management. The goal is to achieve an Intent-Driven operation where AI interprets service requests received in natural language from network administrators and converts them into the necessary network configurations and settings, effectively reflecting those changes in the network.
Since 2019, KDDI has been providing the "Global Communication Platform," a mobile communication infrastructure for connected services, to major Japanese automobile manufacturers. The "Global Communication Platform" not only establishes high-quality connections between in-vehicle communication devices and the cloud, but also offers functions to control the telecommunication status of each vehicle through an integrated management interface. This initiative extends beyond vehicles to encompass various mobilities such as drones and robots, helping to develop integrated control technologies and platforms for these mobilities.
To address social issues such as labor shortages, aging social infrastructure, and regional depopulation and aging, KDDI is commercializing drones. We are doing this by advancing drone capabilities and accelerating their integration into society. Since 2017, KDDI has been developing and validating a domestic cutting-edge drone airspace management system to achieve Level 4 BVLOS flights, and in October 2024, successfully demonstrated a single remote operator controlling five drones simultaneously at four locations nationwide.
KDDI is enhancing disaster response through public-private partnerships by utilizing drones. In cases where remote communities become isolated due to limited signal reception during disasters, we can now quickly deliver supplies via drones using Starlink. Additionally, in December 2024, KDDI successfully demonstrated the use of AI drones installed on the roofs of Lawson convenience stores to improve the initial police response during searches and accidents. This technology enables police to view thermal and high-precision camera footage remotely.
To address labor shortages in the logistics industry, KDDI aims to achieve "fully automated delivery systems." This vision involves using autonomous delivery robots for urban deliveries, autonomous vehicles for large-scale deliveries from urban areas, and drones for deliveries in regions where land transport is difficult. In December 2024, KDDI developed a "collaborative control platform" that calculates and manages the optimal convergence points for these mobility solutions, and successfully conducted a demonstration to coordinate the delivery operations of autonomous delivery robots, autonomous vehicles, and drones.
Since KDDI successfully ran the experimental TV space relay between Japan and the United States in 1963, KDDI has been a pioneer in Japan's satellite communications for over 60 years, significantly contributing to the development of international and mobile communications. The KDDI Yamaguchi Satellite Communication Station, opened in May 1969 as Japan's Earth station for satellite communications, is one of the world's largest satellite communication stations. The station houses approximately 20 parabolic antennas for international communication with satellites such as Intelsat and Inmarsat. Through communications satellites launched into geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator, it facilitates the exchange of TV images, telephone calls, and internet data worldwide.
KDDI is leveraging the satellite communications technology and knowledge it has cultivated to build a wide-area, disaster-resistant communications network using advanced satellite communications systems, and is also working to build a communications infrastructure between the Moon and Earth for the future.
KDDI is utilizing the satellite broadband "Starlink," provided by SpaceX from the United States to offer communication environments in areas with limited radio wave reception. These include mountainous regions and islands, and event venues as well as inside event venues where communication can become unstable due to a large number of visitors. Our primary goal is to create new experiential value for customers. Additionally, to ensure that customers in disaster-affected areas can use their mobile phones safely and securely as soon as possible after a disaster occurs, KDDI is advancing the deployment of vehicle-mounted and portable base stations utilizing "Starlink" to locations across Japan.
With lunar exploration programs being advanced by space agencies around the world, and with lunar development set to become full-scale after 2030, a high-speed, large-capacity telecommunications environment between the Moon and Earth will be necessary. KDDI is leveraging its existing satellite communications and optical communications technologies and knowledge to advance R&D for the construction of ground stations that enable telecommunications between the Moon and Earth, as well as technology for communication between satellites using laser light. By improving telecommunications infrastructure, we will contribute to lunar exploration planned both in Japan and internationally, as well as to the creation of new businesses by companies aiming to explore the Moon in the future.
Forming the core of KDDI's R&D activities, KDDI Research carries out fundamental research on world-leading technologies in six main areas: optical communication, wireless communication, networks, AI, security, and XR.
Furthermore, aiming to commercialize next-generation mobile communication systems (Beyond 5G/6G) currently under development worldwide, KDDI Research,Inc. actively makes technology proposals in international standardization activities and contributes to global technological innovation by putting advanced research results into practical use.
KDDI ∞ Labo (KDDI MUGENLABO) is a business co-creation platform.
By combining the business ideas and technologies of startups with a wide range of real assets from enterprises, KDDI ∞ LABO co-creates new businesses that can have an impact on society.
KDDI Open Innovation Fund aims for business co-creations with startups by leveraging various KDDI group resources,and business collaborations in a wide range of areas.
KDDI Research, Inc. conducts a wide range of research and studies on the latest industry trends, markets, and policy frameworks both in Japan and overseas, as well as world-class research and development in information and communication technologies. Through future forecasting and the creation of next-generation technologies, we are committed to taking on the challenge of realizing a richer future.
From platforms to applications... we are creating the most core elements that support au mobile phones from the ground up.
"Ambitious For Technology" — KDDI Technology is paving the way for the future of mobile.
ARISE analytics is a company that supports the digital transformation of various businesses by leveraging KDDI’s vast data assets—the largest in Japan—along with its cutting-edge data processing and analytics infrastructure, and Accenture’s expertise in advanced algorithm development and globally proven analytics solutions. By harnessing data, ARISE analytics delivers new value to the KDDI Group—which provides a wide range of services including telecommunications, e-commerce, and financial services—as well as to its partner companies.
KDDI Digital Security Inc. is a joint venture between KDDI and LAC. By combining KDDI’s ICT solutions—such as network and IoT platforms—with LAC’s advanced security analysis capabilities and technical expertise, we provide secure ICT environments that our customers can trust, contributing to the growth and success of their businesses.
KDDI Digital Design, Inc. was established as a joint venture between KDDI and Nomura Research Institute (NRI) to serve as a partner in driving customers' digital transformation (DX). By combining NRI’s strengths in strategic consulting and system integration with KDDI’s expertise in next-generation networks and IoT platform development, we provide comprehensive support for our customers’ DX initiatives—from strategy planning and business feasibility assessment to system implementation.
KDDI Digital Divergence Holdings Corporation is a holding company that possesses essential capabilities for driving DX (Digital Transformation), including cloud and agile technologies. While supporting the various companies within the group, it enhances and complements capabilities through portfolio management, capital partnerships with external companies, and other initiatives, strengthening the group's DX support and development efforts.
We provide a one-stop solution for system and application development, UI/UX design creation, as well as infrastructure setup and operation. With over 2,500 companies adopting cloud solutions and more than 4,300 projects annually, we have extensive experience and advanced technical capabilities. As a recognized cloud integrator in Japan, we hold both AWS Premier Tier Service Partner and Premier Level Google Cloud Sell Engagement Model certifications, continuing to grow as a leading cloud integrator in the country.
KDDI Agile Development Center Corporation is home to a wide range of professionals who can provide consistent support from business idea generation to product development. Using processes based on agile development methods and service design expertise, we engage in co-creation projects with partners to pursue fundamental value creation.
Since its founding in 1997, KDDI Web Communications inc. has been offering services centered around "usability," ensuring that advanced systems can be easily operated by anyone. Leveraging the know-how accumulated since the early days of IT, we continue to focus on "new development" efforts and collaborate with attractive overseas web services, providing "creative services" to meet evolving needs.
Scrum Inc. is a global authority on Scrum, the most widely used agile management framework. It offers Scrum Inc. certified training seminars and Scrum implementation support to companies aiming for agile transformation.
FLYWHEEL, Inc. is a data engineering-focused startup. With a leadership team and engineers who have gained global experience in data utilization at major U.S. tech companies, FLYWHEEL leverages their expertise and technical capabilities to rapidly implement data integration and system solutions tailored to customer needs. The data utilization platform, Conata, provided by FLYWHEEL offers a one-stop solution for the environment necessary for companies to utilize data, while ensuring maximum protection of personal information and privacy, making it a safe and secure platform.
ELYZA, Inc. is a leading company in Japan specializing in large language models (LLM). Since 2019, it has been investing in LLM research and development, and through supporting the utilization of LLMs by companies, as well as the development and provision of AI SaaS, ELYZA is promoting the social implementation of LLMs across various fields such as finance and human resources.
KDDI SmartDrone Inc is deploying services that enable safe remote and long-distance drone flights using mobile communication. The company is committed to realizing new business opportunities through drones and providing agile services tailored to customer needs in various fields such as inspection, logistics, surveillance, agriculture, and surveying.