Participation in Space Port KOCHI, Which Aims to Open Asia’s Largest Spaceport in Kochi—

GIKEN LTD. (Head Office: Kochi-shi, Kochi; President and CEO: Atsushi Ohira) announced that it supports the vision of Space Port KOCHI (Main Office: Kochi-shi, Kochi; Representative Director: Bunpei Furuya)—which aims to open a spaceport for launching and landing of rockets and spaceships in Kochi Prefecture—and is participating as a full corporate member. At the same time, Yusei Morino, who serves as Director and Executive Operating Officer at GIKEN, has been appointed as a director of Space Port KOCHI.

The spaceport attracts significant expectations as, besides being a new industry that invigorates the local economy of Kochi Prefecture, it will help develop space transportation in Japan, a country with limited land. Space Port KOCHI is making preparations towards commencement of operations in FY2029, and GIKEN expects to contribute in areas such as the spaceport’s structural proposal and actual construction, and will work towards early opening of the spaceport.

GIKEN is also a part of the Japanese government’s Space Construction Innovation Project, undertaking technology research and development (R&D) towards applying press-in technology in the construction of a based on the moon.^* The hydraulic pile press-in and extraction machine SILENT PILER™ and the rotary cutting press-in machine GYRO PILER™ manufactured and sold by GIKEN are able to grip piles already driven into the ground and use extraction resistance force (reaction force) to drive the next piles. In principle, it is therefore possible for them to operate in zero-gravity environments. A future is being pursued where the press-in machines of GIKEN, born in Kochi Prefecture and being operated around the world, will depart into space from the prefecture’s spaceport and come to also be utilised on the moon and other planets.

* Please see the previous news release (https://www.giken.com/en/news-cat/release/15_may_2025/)

Seeking to open a spaceport in Kochi Prefecture, Space Port KOCHI was established in February 2025 by an industry‐academia‐government volunteer organisation led by the prefectural government. The market scale of the space industry is expected to reach approximately 150 trillion yen in 2040, about three times its present size. Amid Japan facing the issue of a lack of space transportation, from a global perspective, Kochi Prefecture has the geographical feature of facing the Pacific Ocean and being a suitable location for a spaceport. By creating Asia’s largest spaceport for launching and landing of various rockets and spaceships in the future, Space Port KOCHI seeks to vitalise the region through new prosperity and economic invigoration arising from the movement of many people and the latest in space transportation.

* Reference: Website of Space Port KOCHI (https://spkochi.org/) (in Japanese)

■Profile of GIKEN Group
GIKEN developed the SILENT PILER™, the world’s first reaction-based, non-vibratory hydraulic pile driving machine that operates with minimal noise impacts. The GIKEN Group now actively promotes its press-in technology worldwide and contributes to the construction industry by proposing and implementing innovative solutions. The innovative press-in technology provides a unique solution and the adoption of this technology has spread to over 40 nations and regions.