Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
SoftBank Corp., which has formed a capital and business alliance with Seven & i Holdings Co., plans to assist in the implementation of artificial intelligence and robotics technology for use in store operations, SoftBank President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa said at an earnings results briefing Tuesday.
"We will provide support on the technical side to help make the convenience stores of the future a reality," he said.
Seven & i announced the alliance on July 31, under which it will receive a total of 300 billion yen in capital from SoftBank, PayPay Corp. and Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Seven & i will allot treasury shares to the three companies, giving each a 2.27% stake.
Miyakawa denied any intention to get involved in the management of Seven & i, the operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, saying: "This doesn't mean we want to operate the convenience stores. We would like to support the retail industry by introducing AI to further improve its efficiency."
"If anything, I actually think even a 2% stake might be too much," he added.
At the briefing, he presented some envisaged plans, while noting that they are still in the "consideration stage." These included foreign customers being served by store staff wearing glasses-like computer devices equipped with AI-powered automatic translation functions, as well as humanoid robots handling store operations such as making deliveries and stocking shelves.
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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.
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