NAGOYA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 26, 2025--
Global IT Corporation FPT has entered a joint venture with Smart Holdings Co., Ltd. (Smart Holdings), a leading Japan-based IT solutions provider specializing in the manufacturing sector, to establish FPT Smart Technologies Japan Co., Ltd. (FST-Japan). Headquartered in Nagoya, the joint venture aims to accelerate digital transformation across Japan’s manufacturing industry, with a strategic focus on the automotive sector.
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FPT and Smart Holdings have restructured their collaboration into a joint venture, with FPT acquiring a 49 percent stake and Smart Holdings retaining 51 percent. The partnership addresses rising demand for digital transformation in Japan’s manufacturing sector, driven by trends such as Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), carbon neutrality, and Mobility as a Service (MaaS). FPT brings advanced technical expertise in AI, digital engineering, and vision-language models, while Smart Holdings contributes deep knowledge of Japan’s manufacturing industry and strong ties with leading automotive companies.
FST-Japan will initially focus on projects with a major automotive company, with plans to expand to additional automotive clients in the future. Key priorities include digitizing design drawings, enhancing solution proposals, and supporting manufacturers in meeting stringent quality, cost, and delivery (QCD) standards. Over the next five years, the company anticipates generating approximately USD 20 million (JPY 3 billion) in business opportunities.
“The establishment is a part of our long-term vision to advance digitalization within Japan’s industrial landscape, particularly in the mobility sector,” said Do Van Khac, FPT Software Senior Executive Vice President and FPT Japan Chief Executive Officer, FPT Corporation. “By uniting FPT’s global technology capabilities and Smart Holdings’ deep-rooted expertise in automotive, we are uniquely positioned to deliver intelligent, high-impact solutions that enable smarter operations and accelerate the shift toward sustainable, next-generation systems.”
Koichiro Sato, President and CEO, Smart Holdings, stated: “We will create new value by combining a global perspective and world-class manpower with Japan’s quality and on-site capabilities, delivering innovative services to manufacturers, especially automotive clients.”
Building on its strong track record in Japan, FPT brings deep local experience and global scale to the new joint venture, particularly in the automotive domain, one of its five strategic pillars. Leveraging its two decades of expertise in automotive technology, the corporation established a dedicated automotive subsidiary in 2023 and now operates a global network of 5,000 engineers serving top OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and chipmakers. Its commitment to delivery excellence is reflected in adherence to international standards such as ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434, A-SPICE Level 3, and TiSAX, positioning the company as a trusted partner in driving digital transformation across the next generation of mobility.
About FPT Corporation
FPT Corporation (FPT) is a globally leading technology and IT services provider headquartered in Vietnam and operates in three core sectors: Technology, Telecommunications, and Education. Over more than three decades, FPT has consistently delivered impactful solutions to millions of individuals and tens of thousands of organizations worldwide. Committed to elevating Vietnam’s position on the global tech map and delivering world-class AI-enabled solutions for global enterprises, the Corporation focuses on three critical transformations: Digital Transformation, Intelligence Transformation, and Green Transformation. In 2024, FPT reported a total revenue of USD 2.47 billion and a workforce of over 54,000 employees across its core businesses. For more information about FPT's global IT services, please visit https://fptsoftware.com/.
About Smart Holdings Co., Ltd.
Company Name: Smart Holdings Co., Ltd.
Head Office: 8F, A-PLACE Shinagawa, 1-8-40 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Website: https://www.smart-group.co.jp/
Under the vision of “Enhancing global manufacturing and innovation through IT knowledge and technologies,” Smart Holdings and its group companies (collectively, the Smart Group) are committed to supporting the ongoing evolution and innovation of the automotive industry amid major changes such as the rise of MaaS (Mobility as a Service), the emergence of smart mobility societies, and the development of new-generation vehicles represented by CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric). The Smart Group combines technical strength, a worldwide network, and comprehensive capabilities with the operational knowledge and technologies cultivated with clients since its founding, aiming to deliver new value.
FPT and Smart Holdings Launch Joint Venture to Support Digital Transformation in Japan’s Manufacturing Sector
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence — nearly 42 years — to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted in a staggering $250 million fraud case that helped ignite an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.
Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to needy children during the pandemic. The U.S. Justice Department, however, said she was atop the “single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.”
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock said in federal court.
After the hearing, authorities held a news conference to announce charges against 15 more people accused of fraud in receiving federal payments for a variety of social services administered through Minnesota's state government. The FBI said one man jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to avoid arrest.
“We will claw back every dollar you have stolen from the American people,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said, noting that the government sent more prosecutors and agents to Minnesota this year.
President Donald Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter to target immigrants, leading to pushback from residents and the deaths of two people.
Bock's nonprofit was at the center of a fraud network that included a web of partner organizations, phony distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children supposedly being fed, prosecutors say. She had long proclaimed her innocence but was convicted last year of conspiracy, fraud and bribery.
Bock and co-conspirators enriched themselves with international travel, real estate purchases, luxury vehicles and other lavish spending, the government said.
“This was a vortex of fraud and you were at the epicenter,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Bock.
State auditors found that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future, but often told the group to police itself. In January, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he would not run for reelection after being pounded by Trump about theft in programs that rely on federal cash.
Dozens of people, many from the state’s large Somali community, have been convicted in a series of overlapping food fraud cases that have spent years in the courts.
“This case has changed our state forever,” Joe Thompson, formerly the lead prosecutor in the case, said outside the courtroom. “Aimee Bock did everything she could to earn this long sentence.”
Bock’s lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, argued for no more than three years in prison, saying she had provided key information to investigators. He argued that Bock had been unfairly painted as the mastermind and insisted that two co-defendants were responsible for running the scams.
In a fresh batch of criminal cases filed this week in Minnesota, the government said the alleged fraud involved $90 million across seven state-managed Medicaid programs.
The defendants include Fahima Mahamud, who was CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, a childcare center in Minneapolis. Over three years, Mahamud’s organization was reimbursed approximately $4.6 million for services on behalf of people who didn’t make a required copayment, prosecutors allege.
A message seeking comment from her lawyer was not immediately returned Thursday. Mahamud earlier this year pleaded not guilty to fraud related to meals.
Two other people were charged with conspiring to get $975,000 in Medicaid subsidies for housing services that were not provided. They’re expected to plead guilty in June, according to a court filing.
Two additional people were accused of receiving $21.1 million by billing Medicaid for autism therapy that was either unnecessary or not provided. Investigators said the two paid families as much as $1,500 per child per month to add their names to the program and get reimbursement.
Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year blasted Minnesota as “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” Trump wrote on social media.
Bock is white and the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the overwhelming majority of defendants in the cases are of Somali descent. Most are U.S. citizens.
Trump's immigration enforcement surge led to repeated protests and confrontations between residents and federal officers and resulted in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
AP reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
The exterior of Minneapolis federal courthouse on Thursday, May 21, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. Feeding our Future founder Aimee Bock is sentenced at the United States District Court in Minneapolis. (Carlos Gonzalez/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson addresses the media following the sentencing of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock on Thursday, May 21, 2026 at at the United States District Court in Minneapolis. (Carlos Gonzalez/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
FILE - Aimee Bock, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future, arrives at the Minneapolis federal courthouse with her attorney, Ken Udoibok, right, on March 19, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
