Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

Japan aims to more than triple domestic cybersecurity industry sales in the next decade, from the current ¥900 billion ($6 billion) to ¥3 trillion.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2025
Japan aims to triple domestic cybersecurity industry sales in next decade
Japan-made cybersecurity products currently occupy less than half of the nation's domestic market share.
A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Tuesday. The administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden in November had called for Google to sell its Chrome web browser and make other changes to its business.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2025
Google urges DOJ to reverse course on breaking up company
Representatives argue that the Alphabet unit’s critical importance to the U.S. economy and national security requires a softer touch.
With a pact to pay Arm Holdings $250 million over a period of ten years, Malaysia joined a growing number of countries that are trying to build domestic production of a component critical to future technologies and national security.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025
SoftBank’s Arm to drive Malaysia’s $270 billion chip goals
Malaysia, which packages roughly a tenth of the world’s semiconductors, has inked a pact to pay Arm $250 million over a period of 10 years for licenses and knowhow.
U.S. President Donald Trump, and C.C. Wei, chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., announce investments in the United States, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 4, 2025
TSMC announces $100 billion investment in new U.S. chip plants
The announcement comes amid concerns Taiwan could lose its "silicon shield" against a Chinese invasion if its companies build too many factories overseas.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
Japan is no island when it comes to semiconductors. Rightly so.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
Kumamon, the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, poses in front of a sign of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., at TSMC's then new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in February 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
In chip renaissance, Japan is learning from past mistakes
In the 1980s, Japan dominated semiconductor production. Fast-forward to today and the country is trying to recapture its past glory, this time with a more outward-looking strategy.
A worker assembles electronic car keys at a manufacturing plant in Jalisco State, Mexico, on Feb. 20. The production of key fobs is an example of the benefits of the USMCA free trade agreement, which has simplified manufacturing and supply chains.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025
The risks of Trump tariffs encapsulated in a car key
Electronic car keys are assembled in Mexico, but can cross borders in North America several times before being finished.
Bic Camera paid ¥557 million less than originally agreed to 51 contract makers of its private-label products including home appliances between July 2023 and August 2024, according to the Fair Trade Commission.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2025
Japan FTC urges Bic Camera to pay subcontractors in full
Bic Camera is believed to have begun underpaying subcontractors in 2020, when it began selling items under its own name.
AIREC, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a maneuver for changing diapers or preventing bedsores in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2025
AI robots may hold key to nursing Japan's aging population
Japan is the world's most advanced aging society with a falling birth rate, dwindling working-age population and restrictive immigration policies.
The government adopted a bill to help prevent cases of human rights abuses and other malicious activities related to the use of artificial intelligence but without hindering businesses' willingness to develop the technology.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2025
New bill lets government publicize names of firms who maliciously use AI
The bill doesn't include "excessive regulations" that could impede technological innovation, the science and technology policy minister said.
An electronic board in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei average dropping over 1,000 points on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 28, 2025
Asian chip shares tumble on Nvidia earnings and tariff fears
A Bloomberg gauge of 25 Japanese chip-related stocks sank as much as 4.5%, the biggest intraday fall since September.
Jins' new device, called the "Jins Assist," allows users to click and move the cursor of a computer via head movements.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2025
Eyeglass company Jins' new device lets people use a PC via head movements
Weighing only 4 grams, Jins' device can help people with hand or arm disabilities navigate a computer through small head movements.
The logo of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 26, 2025
DeepSeek reopens AI model access as China rivalry heats up
The startup has been overwhelmed since unveiling an AI chatbot believed to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT despute deing developed at a fraction of the cost of competing products.
An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California, on Monday. Apple Inc. Apple investors rejected a proposal to end the iPhone maker’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but CEO Tim Cook some some adjustments may occur.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 26, 2025
Apple to keep DEI efforts, though some adjustments possible
The proposal to abolish DEI efforts came after competitors like Meta and Google have started winding down such programs.
A sample of a wafer is seen at the Semicon Taiwan 2022 exhibition in Taipei in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025
China says Taiwan seeking to give away chip industry to U.S.
U.S. media has said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been in talks for a stake in Intel.
U.S. President Donald Trump's officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron and ASML engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, according to people familiar with the matter.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025
Trump team seeks to toughen Biden’s chip controls over China
The move is an early indication the new U.S. president plans to expand efforts that began under Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess.
Visitors take pictures of wafer samples at the Intel booth during Computex 2024 in Taipei on June 4, 2024. U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs on semiconductor chips has complicated Taiwan's bid to remain a global powerhouse in the critical sector and stay onside with key backer Washington, analysts said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 25, 2025
Trump's chip tariff threats raise stakes for Taiwan
Taiwan produces more than half of the world's chips and nearly all of the most advanced ones, making the island essential to global supply chains.
Elon Musk's Starlink is facing challenges from a Chinese state-backed rival and another service financed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 24, 2025
Musk's Starlink races with Chinese rivals to dominate satellite internet
China's rush to occupy more of lower-Earth orbit makes Western policymakers worry it could extend the reach of Beijing's internet censorship regime.
Toyota unveils a part of Woven City in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025
Toyota unveils Woven City to test future mobility
The demonstration city includes roads dedicated to automated mobility on the ground and "logistics streets."
The uncertain reaction to Xi Jinping’s display of warmth toward business made sense: China’s executives are eager for a reset after years in the cold but ever wary of meddling.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 24, 2025
Is Xi’s sudden embrace of business for real? China is left guessing
China's private sector has good reasons to worry that Beijing could meddle more in businesses in the name of supporting them.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan