JAPAN AI Invests in and Partners with CONOC: Supporting AI Agent Development in the Construction Industry to Accelerate AX (AI Transformation)

JAPAN AI Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Tomoaki Kudo; hereinafter "JAPAN AI") announces that it has invested in CONOC Inc. (Headquarters: Tama-shi, Tokyo; Representative Director: Hajime Yamaguchi; hereinafter "CONOC"), a company committed to promoting DX in the construction industry and realizing business transformation through AI (AX: AI Transformation), and has initiated a business partnership to co-develop AI agent services for the construction sector.

Background of the Business Partnership JAPAN AI, with its purpose of "Creating a sustainable future society through AI," has been providing, developing, and supporting the adoption of AI platforms for hundreds of companies.

Although Japan's construction industry is a core sector with a market size of 75 trillion yen (*1) and 4.77 million workers (*2), the adoption rate of DX for business management remains at 20.7% (*3), and the AI utilization rate is only 9.4% (*4). Many tasks, such as estimates, invoicing, process management, and daily site reports, are still handled using paper or analog methods, making the heavy workload on site managers and reliance on individual expertise long-standing issues.

CONOC has been providing cloud services specialized for the construction industry to address these challenges. Having served over 777 construction companies, they are now leveraging their accumulated business data and industry expertise to develop their own suite of AI agents specialized for construction tasks, such as OCR for estimates, daily report generation, and process optimization. This partnership aims to accelerate the realization of this AI agent vision by collaborating with JAPAN AI, which possesses strong capabilities in AI development infrastructure, in both technical and implementation aspects.

*1: From the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, "Construction Investment Outlook for FY2025 (Reiwa 7)." *2: From the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Labour Force Survey" (2024 average). *3: From the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), "DX White Paper 2023," Chart 2-7. Calculated by summing the percentages of companies that have implemented DX as a "company-wide strategy," "at the department level," or are "currently in the proof-of-concept/experimentation stage." *4: From Teikoku Databank, "Survey on the Utilization of Generative AI" (August 2024). Generative AI utilization rate in the construction and real estate industries.

Details of the Business Partnership Through this partnership, JAPAN AI will support the renewal of CONOC's existing cloud services into business systems that utilize AI agents through the following two services:

(1) Provision of JAPAN AI STUDIO JAPAN AI STUDIO is a platform that allows for the construction and operation of business systems incorporating AI agents without writing code. Because screen design, AI agents, and databases can all be developed within a single environment, combining CONOC's accumulated construction business know-how with the JAPAN AI STUDIO development platform will enable AI automation in tasks such as estimate management, process management, and site reporting.

(2) Provision of JAPAN AI CONSULTING Dedicated personnel will provide consistent support from requirements definition for AI implementation to deployment and integration into the field. In addition to follow-up on AI utilization, JAPAN AI will use its technical expertise and implementation resources to accelerate the development plans for new AI agents envisioned by CONOC, jointly promoting the early realization of AI services for the construction industry.

Through this partnership, both companies will jointly promote the creation of an environment where construction site personnel can automate daily tasks such as document creation, process management, and site reporting using AI.

Comment from Hajime Yamaguchi, Representative Director of CONOC "I have been involved in the construction industry for over 20 years, and through CONOC, we have provided construction-specialized cloud services to over 777 customers. However, the labor shortage at construction sites has reached a stage where it cannot be solved by cloud tools alone.

That is why I believe AI agents that can take over tasks on behalf of humans are necessary, and we have been proceeding with in-house development.

I believe that this partnership with JAPAN AI will significantly accelerate the speed of that realization.

By collaborating between CONOC, which understands construction sites most deeply, and JAPAN AI, which has strengths in core AI technologies, we will realize an environment where work runs with 'zero input, only confirmation,' fundamentally changing the way people work in the construction industry."

Comment from Tomoaki Kudo, President of JAPAN AI "CONOC possesses a wealth of business data and deep domain knowledge in the construction industry. By combining this with JAPAN AI's technical capabilities, we will work together to promote AX (AI Transformation) in the construction industry.

JAPAN AI aims to contribute to the further spread and development of AI utilization in Japan by tackling deeper industry challenges."

Future Outlook The two companies aim to build an AI agent layer on top of CONOC's existing SaaS infrastructure and release services sequentially during fiscal year 2026. JAPAN AI will contribute from a technical and implementation perspective, while CONOC will leverage its construction business expertise and user base to jointly promote the improvement of digitalization rates and operational efficiency across the entire construction industry.

About CONOC Since its founding in 2010, CONOC has developed businesses deeply rooted in construction sites. In June 2021, it pivoted to a Con-tech business that promotes DX in the construction industry in earnest, and currently provides AI-equipped cloud services specialized for the construction industry to over 777 construction companies. With the corporate statement "Overturning the common sense of the construction industry," it is promoting the construction of an automation platform for construction tasks using AI agents.

Company Overview Company Name: CONOC Inc. Representative: Hajime Yamaguchi, Representative Director Headquarters: Fukuman Bldg. 2F, 1-12-12 Sannou-shita, Tama-shi, Tokyo Established: March 2010 (Founded January 2004) Business Description: AI-equipped cloud services specialized for the construction industry, Con-tech/DX-AX business URL: https://conoc-dx.co.jp/

About JAPAN AI JAPAN AI Co., Ltd. has the purpose of "Creating a sustainable future society through AI," and develops AI-related products and services to contribute to the further development of various industries and sectors.

Company Overview Company Name: JAPAN AI Co., Ltd. Representative: Tomoaki Kudo, President Headquarters: Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjuku Oak Tower 5/6F, 6-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Established: April 2023 Business Description: Research and development of artificial intelligence, consulting services related to artificial intelligence URL: https://japan-ai.co.jp/