Microsoft Corp will invest US$2.9 billion in data centers in Japan by next year, marking its biggest investment in the country, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing an interview with Microsoft president Brad Smith.
The announcement will be made during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington this week and comes amid Tokyo’s push for more computing power for artificial intelligence (AI), according to the report.
Kishida arrived in the US on Monday for the first official visit by a Japanese leader in nine years, underscoring the increasing importance of the alliance between the two countries. He was scheduled to meet American business leaders yesterday before holding a summit with US President Joe Biden today.
Photo: AP
Microsoft will install advanced AI chips at two existing sites in eastern and western Japan. It will also unveil an AI-related reskilling program in Japan to train 3 million workers over three years and set up a research lab on robotics and AI, the Nikkei report said.
At the summit today, Biden and Kishida are expected to emphasize the strength of US-Japan ties in a wide range of areas including defense, economic security, key technologies like semiconductors, AI and quantum computing.
The Japanese leader is scheduled to visit a Toyota Motor Corp’s battery plant and a Honda Aircraft Co’s factory in North Carolina on Friday, where he’s likely to tout the benefits of Japanese investments for the US economy.
Japan is the top investing nation in the US with an amount of US$775.2 billion at the end of 2022, followed by Canada and the UK, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. This is far bigger than China’s investment of US$44.8 billion.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS