Sompo Holdings and NTT Partner to Promote Physical AI Deployment in the Nursing Care Sector

Tokyo, Japan, November 12, 2026 — Sompo Holdings, Inc. (Group CEO, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer: Mikio Okumura; hereinafter "Sompo Holdings") and NTT, Inc. (President and CEO: Akira Shimada; hereinafter "NTT") signed a partnership agreement on November 11, 2026 to promote the real-world deployment of physical AI* in the nursing care sector, aiming to address the social challenge of labor shortages in the industry.

Figure: Concept of partnership in nursing care physical AI

^*A general term for AI technologies that perceive the state of physical space through cameras, sensors, etc., and perform physical actions or tasks via equipment such as robots based on decisions made from that information. In this press release, cameras, sensors, robots, and the systems connecting them are collectively referred to as "physical AI."

Background

As Japan increasingly shifts toward a super-aging society, the shortage of workers on the front lines of nursing care is already a social issue, and its severity is expected to intensify further going forward. The key to ensuring the sustainability of nursing care services is maintaining and enhancing the quality of user-centered care while easing the workload on caregivers. Meanwhile, deploying physical AI in society requires not only technological development, but also integrated preparation covering aspects such as data, operational design, operations, maintenance, and security for safe and stable operation in everyday life settings.
Sompo Holdings and NTT will start to study collaborations to achieve sustainable nursing care services using physical AI in Japan's nursing care sector, where challenges emerge early.

Overview of Collaboration Study

In the collaboration study, the two companies will first identify the challenges in nursing care front lines and priority use cases. They will then consider models for operations and services predicated on human—physical AI cooperation, as well as ways to proceed from R&D and demonstration to deployment and operation, continuous improvement, and commercialization of physical AI.
With sights set on co-creation with physical AI business operators, the two companies will also explore demonstration methods, operational frameworks, and collaboration approaches geared toward commercialization for the safe and continuous use of physical AI on nursing care front lines.

Partnership Between Sompo Holdings and NTT

Sompo Holdings will harness its consumer insights cultivated from providing nursing care services, its operational knowledge of nursing care front lines, and its expertise in service quality enhancement as well as in frontline reform and deployment efforts.
NTT will leverage its expertise in areas such as safe and secure communication networks and security, development of platforms connecting diverse devices and systems, and social-infrastructure-grade operational capabilities.
The two companies will build an implementation framework in which they each coordinate with their respective group companies for specific efforts, and include external partners where necessary.

Future Outlook

Based on the agreement, Sompo Holdings and NTT will substantiate target use cases, implementation frameworks, demonstration plans, the handling of data and intellectual property, and the division of roles for commercialization. As initial target use cases, the companies expect to focus on indirect operations such as cleaning, laundry, preparing and clearing meals, and transporting items, rather than direct physical care for users. They will also consider broadening partnerships with physical AI business operators to develop a model that can be implemented in society, starting from nursing care front lines and eventually expanding into other care operators and domains of daily life.