Alliances & Technology Transfer

Panasonic said on Wednesday it will explore a partnership with China's Mobike, looking to leverage its know-how for the launch of an electric-bike-sharing service in Japan next year.

Toshiba Corp. on Thursday announced its five-year business reform plan to revamp its operations, with thousands of global job cuts, a withdrawal from its nuclear plant construction business in Britain and a sell-off of a U.S. liquefied natural gas operation on the agenda.

SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son is starting to reap the benefits of his enormous technology investments.

Japan's Rakuten and India's Tech Mahindra announced Monday they will partner to test software-based virtual networks with an eye toward codeveloping 5G service.

Japanese game maker Gree said Tuesday it will partner with Chinese streaming site Bilibili to develop smartphone games and promote virtual internet celebrities, looking to tap into the large base of Chinese fans of Japanese anime and games.

Japan and China are set to agree on promoting roughly 50 private-sector, third-country infrastructure projects this week, setting in motion the first joint deal of building a smart city in Thailand as early as this year.

Japanese electronics conglomerate Hitachi will sell its Clarion subsidiary, which makes car navigation systems, for around 80 billion yen ($713 million) to French auto parts maker Faurecia, Nikkei has learned.

Samsung Electronics and NEC have agreed to join in developing base stations for fifth-generation mobile communications, as they see an opportunity to gain market share while Chinese rivals such as industry leader Huawei Technologies increasingly face difficulty expanding in the U.S. and other major markets.

The key to success for the tie-up in next-generation mobility services between Toyota Motor and SoftBank Group is the companies' ability to monetize such services by using big data.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. are considering integrating their automobile sales loan businesses in a deeper capital tie-up to cut costs amid the shrinking domestic market, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.