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DATA

Panasonic will restructure low-growth businesses and make changes to its employment structure, according to a recently released statement.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025
Panasonic shares jump most in 11 years on restructuring plans
The Osaka-based company will restructure low-growth businesses and make changes to its employment structure.
Bosses at artificial intelligence companies are concerned about finding enough electricity to keep servers running at data centers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025
AI’s electricity demand means new tech is coming to grids
Startups have an opportunity to develop and deploy grid-enhancing technologies, including pumping more power through cables.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025
DeepSeek’s AI restricted by ‘hundreds’ of companies in days
Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.
A street in Chitose, Hokkaido. Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, according to a report from the Organization for Cross-Regional Coordination of Transmission Operators.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2025
Japan sees data center-driven power boom in Hokkaido
Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, a report has said.
Japan aims for nuclear power to make up 20% of its energy mix by 2040. However, the restart of the country's reactors is complicated by issues such as local opposition, as is the case for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2025
Robust new nuclear target for Japan is shrouded in uncertainty
A new plan envisions nuclear power making up 20% of Japan's energy mix by 2040. But hurdles to reactor restarts and rising electricity demand cast a shadow on such ambitions.
Cables connect to servers at a data center. The rapid global adoption of AI has triggered a boom in demand for the energy-hungry data centers on which the technology depends, putting power grids to the test.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024
Fossil fuels initially needed for AI boom, Tepco adviser says
While electricity demand has been trending downward in Japan, experts have suggested that the decline could be reversed as the nation builds more data centers.
Sharp revealed in June that it had started talks on building an artificial intelligence data center with KDDI and system integrator Datasection. On Monday, Sharp said the project will proceed without Datasection.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024
KDDI to build AI data center on Sharp's LCD plant site
Construction of the data center in the city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, will commence by March, with KDDI aiming to begin operations in fiscal 2025.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power plant's No.1 reactor (right) in Fukui Prefecture, which surpassed 50 years of operation in November. On the left is the No. 2 reactor.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2024
Renewables eyed as biggest source of Japan's energy mix in fiscal 2040
The government is also expected to aim for a 20% share for nuclear energy as part of efforts toward decarbonization.
The decision significantly raises the prospects of an unprecedented ban in just six weeks on a social media app used by 170 million Americans.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2024
U.S. appeals court upholds TikTok law forcing its sale
The decision is a major win for the Justice Department and opponents of the Chinese-owned app and a devastating blow to TikTok parent ByteDance.
Facebook parent company Meta is asking developers to submit proposals to deliver 1 to 4 gigawatts of nuclear energy, starting in the early 2030s.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2024
Meta seeks new nuclear reactors to run U.S. data centers
The Facebook parent is asking developers to submit proposals to deliver 1 to 4 gigawatts of reactor capacity, starting in the early 2030s.
Emissions rise from the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Norco Refinery in Norco, Louisiana, on June 12, 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 27, 2024
How AI and cloud computing may delay the transition to clean energy
The pace of clean-energy deployments is moving too slowly to keep up with the new technology's demands.
Fujikura's headquarters in Tokyo's Koto Ward. The company's share price has surged by more than 400% this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024
AI boom makes 139-year-old cable maker Japan’s hottest stock
Fujikura, which makes narrow wire cabling, is the best performer on the Nikkei stock index this year due to a boom in demand for data centers.
The Fugaku supercomputer at Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 19, 2024
Japan's Fugaku supercomputer takes top spot in two rankings for 10th time
Fugaku marked better performance than in the previous rankings, in May, following an improvement to its software.
Hokkaido Electric Power's Tomari nuclear plant. The company says it will be able to meet a boom in consumption from planned data centers and a chipmaking plant provided it is allowed to restart its nuclear reactor.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2024
Hokkaido Electric sees power demand surge with data center boom
Hokkaido boasts a cold climate, which reduces cooling costs, and potential for renewable energy, particularly offshore wind.
The IFC One Saigon building in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Nov. 30, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2024
U.S. tech firms issue warning over Vietnam's planned data law
The country is aiming to exponentially increase its data center industry with foreign investment in coming years.
Kunihiro Tanaka, CEO of Sakura Internet, says the firm's data center under construction in Hokkaido will likely be fully booked by the time it comes online in three years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2024
Sakura Internet loads up on Nvidia gear for data center project
Sakura’s current capacity is now fully booked, with a waiting list that extends for years.
Ubitus, which received funding from Nvidia earlier this year, joins a growing list of tech companies at the forefront of a global revival in nuclear power.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024
Nvidia-backed firm eyes a data center near nuclear power in Japan
The Nvidia-backed company Ubitus joins a growing list of tech companies at the forefront of a global revival in nuclear power.
Amazon is seeking to source more clean power agreements in Southeast Asia and India.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 12, 2024
Amazon prefers renewables in Asia as nuclear still elusive
While Asia remains one of the most challenging geographies to acquire green power, it’s the region with the greatest potential.
Oracle plans to spend $6.5 billion building a cloud services center in Malaysia, becoming the latest global tech name to invest in Southeast Asian AI infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024
Oracle to invest $6.5 billion to set up cloud facilities in Malaysia
Oracle's venture is set to be one of the largest single tech investments in Malaysia so far.
The Three Mile Island plant made global headlines in 1979 with a partial meltdown at its Unit 2 reactor, the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Sep 25, 2024
U.S. nuclear plants won't power up Big Tech's AI ambitions right away
Plans may be delayed by high regulatory hurdles, potential fuel supply obstacles, and sometimes stiff local and environmental opposition.

Longform

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