FPT and SCSK to Form Joint Venture, Revolutionizing Japan’s Legacy Systems and Talent Landscape

Global leading technology corporation, FPT, through its subsidiary FPT Consulting Japan and the Japanese tech giant SCSK Corporation (SCSK) recently announced plans to establish a joint venture named COBOL PARK. This initiative aims to address the growing challenges of maintaining and modernizing legacy systems, particularly mainframe technologies, to support business resilience and agility and contribute to Japan’s digital transformation agenda.

The venture is part of a shared commitment to addressing the “2025 Digital Cliff”—an impending risk highlighted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), on outdated and complex legacy systems that once served as the backbone of Japan's financial industry, among other sectors. Compounded by a scarcity of COBOL engineers and a rapidly ageing workforce, the modernization of these legacy technologies is crucial to business continuity and sustainability.

COBOL PARK, scheduled for establishment by March 2025, aims to secure a robust talent pipeline and offer solutions for legacy system maintenance, mainframe migration, and modernization across various sectors. It particularly targets the estimated 500-billion-yen Japanese financial industry. 

This joint venture builds on a successful partnership between FPT and SCSK in IT services for the Asia Pacific region since 2018. It will leverage SCSK’s industry expertise and FPT’s technological capabilities, global presence, and substantial workforce. Additionally, FPT will utilize its strong focus on artificial intelligence and AI-driven models specifically designed for mainframe modernization to achieve optimal results and efficiency.

FPT Corporation (FPT) is a globally leading technology and IT services provider headquartered in Vietnam. FPT operates in three core sectors: Technology, Telecommunications, and Education. During over three decades of development, FPT has constantly provided practical and effective products to millions of people and tens of thousands of business and non-business organizations worldwide, establishing Vietnam’s position on the global tech map. Keeping up with the latest market trends and emerging technologies, FPT has developed the Made-by-FPT ecosystem of services, products, solutions, and platforms, which enables sustainable growth for organizations and businesses and offers distinctive experiences to customers. In 2023, FPT recorded a total revenue of USD 2.17 billion and 48,000+ employees. 

After nearly two decades in Japan, FPT has become one of the largest foreign-invested technology firms in the country by human resource capacity. The company delivers services and solutions to over 450 clients globally, with over 3,500 employees across 17 local offices and innovation hubs in Japan, and nearly 15,000 professionals supporting this market worldwide.

With Japan as a strategic focus for the company’s global growth, FPT has been actively expanding its business and engaging in M&A deals, such as the joint venture with Konica Minolta, strategic investment in LTS Inc, and most recently, the acquisition of NAC—its first M&A deal in the market. As digital transformation, particularly legacy system modernization viewed as a key growth driver in the Japanese market, the company is committed to providing end-to-end solutions and seamless services, utilizing advanced AI technologies as a primary accelerator.

SCSK Corporation provides a full lineup of IT services essential for business, ranging from consulting, system development, verification services, IT infrastructure construction, IT management, IT hardware and software sales, to business process outsourcing (BPO). In addition, SCSK is dedicated to taking on new challenges that address the needs of various industries and society by collaborating with clients and society, centered around IT, to solve a wide range of issues.