Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang met Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Nishimura called generative AI an epoch-making project that will change industry, the economy, and society. He said Japan is pouring efforts into its development.

He asked Nvidia to help Japanese firms because they need the company's GPUs to develop their own generative AI. He believes an alliance with Nvidia is vital.

Huang told Nishimura the firm plans to tie up with research organizations and experts to set up an AI R&D lab in Japan. Nvidia is also considering investments in startups here.

Huang told reporters after the meeting that manufacturing and robotics are both very important for Japan.

He said, "Generative AI in combination with robotics can revolutionize this industry. And so the time is very important. The opportunity is quite large."

Huang, originally from Taiwan, founded Nvidia in 1993. The firm has been growing rapidly due to its strength in developing high-performance semiconductor GPUs.

Nvidia's market capitalization of over 1 trillion dollars is among the world's highest, and larger than that of tech giant Meta Platforms.