FPT teams up with CAC Holdings to form UPSTRIDE, targeting a market forecast exceeding $200 billion

FPT Corporation and CAC Holdings, a Japan-based IT services provider, have announced the establishment of a joint venture, UPSTRIDE Joint Stock Company. The new company will focus on building, operating and supervising IT infrastructure, as well as deploying and developing technology products, targeting opportunities in Japan and the ASEAN region.

Joint venture structure and rationale

FPT and CAC Holdings formed UPSTRIDE in Tokyo, Japan. CAC Holdings will hold 51% of the shares, while FPT will hold 49%.

The venture is designed to combine CAC Holdings’ long-standing presence in Japan with FPT’s engineering and technology capabilities. The model leverages CAC Holdings’ more than 60 years of experience in the Japanese market alongside FPT’s large-scale engineering resources.

Strategic focus areas

UPSTRIDE will operate around three strategic pillars:

• Expanding and commercializing FPT’s products and solutions in the Japanese market.
• Building and providing comprehensive IT infrastructure services, including operations, monitoring and technical support, using combined resources from Vietnam and Japan.
• Developing new business areas such as GPU cloud services and semiconductor-related activities, aligned with FPT’s long-term technology direction.

Statements from leadership

UPSTRIDE’s formation was described by CAC Holdings Chairman and CEO Ryota Nishimori as a step toward combining CAC’s established technology base and customer network in Japan with FPT’s IT human resources. He said the joint venture reflects the “global movement of technology and talent,” and expressed expectations that the partnership will create new value going forward.

Nguyen Van Khoa, General Director of FPT Group, said that after more than two decades in Japan, FPT has become one of the largest foreign-invested technology enterprises in the market. He added that the collaboration will combine FPT’s R&D capabilities, the “Made by FPT” ecosystem for digital transformation, and CAC Holdings’ understanding of Japan’s market demand and global partner network to deliver internationally standard technology products and services to Japan and ASEAN.

Market demand and sector tailwinds

The collaboration is intended to address growing demand for digital transformation in Japan and the ASEAN region. Mordor Intelligence estimates Japan’s digital transformation market will reach $236.48 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.93% over 2025–2030.

As IT systems become more complex, Japanese enterprises are shifting from self-operated models to managed services (IMS) to support performance, security and cost optimization. The article also notes that Japan views semiconductors as a pillar of the digital economy and technology security, with a government goal to raise domestic chip revenue to around $250 billion by 2040 to meet demand from AI, data centers and smart mobility.

Relevant capabilities cited for FPT

The piece highlights FPT’s strengths in IMS, semiconductors and AI ecosystems. In IMS, FPT provides monitoring and management across IT infrastructure, application platforms and information security, serving hundreds of large customers and multinational corporations in Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China and the US.

For cloud services, FPT has launched Cloud Managed Services to help enterprises build safe, internationally compliant cloud operations. In AI, FPT has established two AI factories in Vietnam and Japan, and states that the “Made by FPT” AI ecosystem now includes more than 80 products.

On semiconductors, FPT has been involved for more than a decade, building an ecosystem spanning design, packaging, testing and training, with a focus on power chips and power-management chips. By the end of 2025, FPT delivered the first commercial power chip batch to a leading Japanese electronics company through Restar, a major distributor group in Japan. The company also recently established the first semiconductor test and packaging plant in Vietnam owned by Vietnamese personnel.

Company background and scale

CAC Holdings was established in 1966 and is described as a leading technology group in Japan with 22 subsidiary companies and nearly 5,000 employees. The group has expanded operations to markets including the US, Europe, China and Asia.

FPT is described as a global technology group investing in five strategic technologies: Quantum AI, Cyber Security, UAV, Data and railway technology. In 2025, FPT reported revenue of $2.66 billion, with more than 54,000 employees across 30 countries and territories.

In Japan, FPT currently has 5,000 employees across 18 offices and research centers, and more than 15,000 global experts dedicated to the Japanese market, serving more than 450 customers worldwide.