Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

Officials from iQPS celebrate in the city of Fukuoka in June after the successful launch of a rocket carrying a small satellite developed by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023
Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut
The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrives at the U.K. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Britain, on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2023
EU set to hold talks to finalize agreement on world's first AI law
Brussels wants a legal armory to protect EU citizens' rights, while some member states worry that too much regulation will stifle innovation.
SoftBank has agreed to buy a majority stake in Irish software developer Cubic Telecom for around €473 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
SoftBank buys majority stake in Irish car software developer
SoftBank will acquire 51% of Cubic Telecom, which provides a platform for automakers to update software functions in cars globally and in real time.
KDDI President Makoto Takahashi (left), SoftBank President Junichi Miyakawa (center) and Rakuten Mobile's Hiroshi Mikitani speak during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Prospect of NTT Law abolishment unclear amid fierce opposition
The idea was first proposed by a ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel to make the communications giant internationally competitive.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining
The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
The graphics processing units made by U.S.-based Nvidia dominate the market for artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2023
Nvidia CEO says he will try to prioritize Japan for AI processors
Japan is rushing to rebuild its once world-leading semiconductor infrastructure and catch up on the development of AI technology.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. semiconductor wafer. Osaka-based Fuso Chemical, which has gone into debt rather than raise prices, counts TSMC as one of its clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2023
Key maker of chip materials goes into debt rather than raise prices
Osaka-based Fuso Chemical is bearing the cost to help churn out bigger volumes of sophisticated chips without asking customers for more.
Pedestrians along the Bund in Shanghai on Oct. 29. The Chinese government is pushing a narrative that the city will play an important role in reinvigorating the nation’s economy.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2023
Xi’s Shanghai visit sells city’s ‘innovation’ image
State media video footage using soaring music showed a stoic Xi making a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange and watching a robot demonstration.
Daikin plans to start introducing the custom chips in high-end air conditioners from 2025 and is looking at using them in about a fifth of units by the end of the decade.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023
Japan air conditioner king Daikin eyes custom chips for energy savings
Bespoke silicon costs more than off-the-shelf alternatives but offer better efficiency and allow a reduction in the use of other components.
In recent years, Jack Ma has largely stayed out of public view after clashing with the Chinese government.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Jack Ma returns to rally troops after Alibaba’s troubles deepen
"Every great company is born in a winter"
Elon Musk waits backstage before being interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Elon Musk says advertiser boycott may kill X
Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a "dialectical hatred” of white people.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi says engineers who had left Japan to work abroad are now joining Rapidus to help it revive the domestic chip industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Rapidus hunts for engineers to help Japan regain faded chip glory
Securing engineers in a country with a declining population is among the most pressing issues for the company.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses a news conference during an artificial intelligence safety summit in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023
Foreign policy and defense concerns in the age of AI
Researchers warn of the potential 'signaling risks' artificial intelligence poses to global politics and military conflict.
The Amazon.com logo on a laptop. The online retailer has announced the launch of its own AI chatbot, Q.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023
Pursuing rivals, Amazon announces corporate AI chatbot
Last year's Amazon Web Services trade show was overshadowed by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which quickly wowed users.
Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023
Amid antisemitism uproar, Elon Musk pitches Starlink in Israel
Musk's satellite internet provider is at the heart of the billionnaire's political clout.
The buzz surrounding MediaTek casts a spotlight on growing competition between semiconductor firms that are exploiting the use of AI to grab a larger share of the smartphone business.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2023
AI chip boom fuels Taiwan firm’s 40% rally, beating Qualcomm
A five-month rally in MediaTek looks set to extend as booming demand for smartphones and a promising new AI chip brighten the company’s outlook.
A man sings for customers touring the Erhai lake on a sightseeing bus in Dali, in China's Yunnan province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 27, 2023
Chasing a different dream, China's tech nomads head for the hills
In the mountain town of Dali, former city-dwellers in search of a space for open discussion and exchange of ideas in authoritarian China find refuge.
More than a dozen countries have announced what has been described as the first detailed international agreement on 'secure by design' AI protocol.
WORLD / Society
Nov 27, 2023
U.S., Britain and others ink deal to make AI 'secure by design'
The agreement focuses on thwarting hackers and releasing new systems only after appropriate security testing.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh on Dec. 8, 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2023
Mideast wealth funds draw greater U.S. scrutiny over China ties
A U.S. committee is reviewing several multibillion dollar deals this year on concerns they could pose national security risks.
The Diet building in Tokyo. Japan is not considering penalties for noncompliant businesses in its planned guidelines on the development and use of generative artificial intelligence.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 24, 2023
Japan's generative AI guidelines to carry no penalties
The government aims to accelerate the development and use of generative AI under the guidelines that it expects to compile later this year.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’