Purchases ahead of October's heated-tobacco tax increase support growth, while higher spending per visit offsets declining customer traffic.

Daigas Energy will operate the system on supplier Kowan's rooftops, with generation at the Okayama project planned for April 2027.

September's first-month contract rate falls to 50.4%, while average prices decline 4.1%. October launches are forecast at about 1,500 units.

Selected for Japan's NEDO program, the project targets tighter layer alignment and 50% lower energy consumption on large substrates.

Darajat Unit 3 becomes Indonesia's largest geothermal unit as Mitsubishi Heavy and SEG sign an agreement to study further improvements.

M.M. Plastic targets a spring 2028 factory startup in Japan, extending a relationship that began with a recycling system delivered in 2009.

Selected under Japan's NEDO programme, the five-partner project plans initial development on IBM Spyre Accelerator and hospital testing.

The application is set for phased use by about 50 sales staff at 23 Japanese locations, with employees checking AI-extracted drawing data.

The assistant narrows alert-response procedures across more than 40 systems; testing achieved at least 97% procedure-selection accuracy.

NEDO selects a four-company manufacturing project led by NTT Innovative Devices, with pilot-line testing planned for factory deployment.

The trial runs through December 2026, testing coordinated network and battery control to improve renewable energy use and outage resilience.