Hitachi says it plans to establish a global “Hitachi AI Factory” based on Nvidia AI Factory reference architecture, yielding a centralized infrastructure designed to accelerate the development and deployment of physical AI solutions across Hitachi’s core business sectors.
The AI Factory is powered by Hitachi iQ with Nvidia HGX B200 systems featuring Nvidia Blackwell GPUs; Hitachi iQ M Series with Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 Server Edition GPUs; and Nvidia Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform.
This strategic initiative directly supports Hitachi’s ambition to create and deploy AI that interacts with the real world.
The AI Factory will also enable Hitachi to further expand HMAX – the company’s family of AI-enabled solutions solving a wide-range of complex problems in the Mobility, Energy, Industrial and Technology sectors.
The centralized AI Factory provides Hitachi’s global teams with a powerful unified AI computing infrastructure to run applications and AI workflows developed on the Nvidia full-stack AI platform, which includes Nvidia AI Enterprise for production-grade AI as well as Nvidia Omniverse libraries for simulation, industrial scale, and physically accurate digital twins.
This infrastructure allows for the rapid development and deployment of advanced physical AI models. These models will acquire and interpret information from physical environments via cameras and sensors; determine the next steps to take; and execute actions based on that data.
Today’s announcement builds on Hitachi president and CEO Toshiaki Tokunaga’s recent comment on the Hitachi-Nvidia partnership wherein he stated that, by leveraging Hitachi iQ built on Nvidia RTX PRO Servers, Hitachi will further accelerate AI innovation.
Tokunaga specified that through the Nvidia RTX PRO Servers’ ability to accelerate AI reasoning and physical AI, digital twin development and physical asset optimization (including social infrastructure) is augmented while new possibilities such as productivity improvement across all business activities are unlocked.
The Hitachi AI Factory is strategically distributed across the United States, EMEA, and Japan ensuring that Hitachi’s engineers can collaborate seamlessly and access powerful computing resources with low latency, no matter where they are.
This interconnected network will support the creation of a wide range of physical AI applications, driving new levels of efficiency, productivity, and safety across industries. The initiative reinforces Hitachi’s commitment to using cutting-edge technology to drive both social and business innovation.
Jun Abe, general manager of the digital systems and services division, says: “The strategic collaboration between Hitachi and Nvidia is becoming a key engine for solving complex real-world problems, accelerating social innovation.
“Our work together leverages Nvidia AI infrastructure to achieve both DX (Digital Transformation) and GX (Green Transformation) with solutions like Hitachi Rail’s HMAX, which is currently transforming railway operations and maintenance; Hitachi Vantara’s AI solution portfolio Hitachi iQ; and Hitachi’s liquid-cooled AI data centers supporting 2/2 our generative AI foundation.
“By establishing a global Nvidia AI Factory, we can now operate as a true ‘One Hitachi’ across regions and organizations. A synergy that will accelerate physical AI innovations, as exemplified by HMAX.”
Operationalizing the corporate vision
Hitachi views the AI Factory as a fundamental step toward achieving its Lumada 3.0 vision. Lumada is Hitachi’s operating model that helps enterprises solve business and societal problems through co-created digital transformation.
It harnesses Hitachi’s extensive domain knowledge and technical expertise, combined with AI technologies to convert data into value while reducing operational costs and inefficiencies.
Hitachi is unique in its ability to integrate IT, OT, and hardware expertise as illustrated by the engineering design capabilities, products, and consultative services making up Lumada 3.0.
Justin Boitano, vice president, enterprise AI products, Nvidia, says: “With Nvidia accelerated computing and software, Hitachi’s AI factory infrastructure provides a transformative platform for building and deploying enterprise and physical AI.
“The company leads the Industrial AI market with disruptive solutions that redefine what’s possible. AI factories are the engines of a new industrial revolution, converting enterprise data into autonomous intelligence for both software and the physical world.”
