Kazuyuki Okudaira

Bureau Chief, Silicon Valley at Nikkei

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Articles

Google considers sourcing from nuclear power plants, says CEO Pichai

Oct 3, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira

TOKYO -- Google is considering how to bring electricity from nuclear power plants to its data centers, CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview with Nikkei in Tokyo as the tech giant searches for ways to meet the huge energy demands of its artificial intelligence projects. Google's initiative will likely reignite the development of carbon-free power sources. Toward that end, Pichai also said his company will increase its investment in solar and thermal power.
Suzuki invests in startup to develop self-driving minicars

Jun 16, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Hirotake Kitagawa |Kazuyuki Okudaira

TOKYO -- Suzuki Motor will team up with a Nagoya-based startup to develop self-driving technology for minicars, aiming to meet demand from Japan's less-populated regions in need of compact autonomous cars that can travel on narrow roads. The Japanese automaker has underwritten a portion of a roughly 8 billion yen ($50 million) capital increase by Tier IV, which develops autonomous driving technology and assists carmakers in its adoption.
TSMC-backed U.S. fund targets chip, robotics, other hardware startups

Jun 7, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira |Nikkei senior

TOKYO -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and major U.S. venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins are among investors backing a new $300 million fund that targets manufacturing startups, such as chip and robotics makers, amid the trend of supply chain onshoring. Wen Hsieh, a managing partner of Matter Venture Partners, which manages the fund, spoke to Nikkei about investment targets and strategy. Hsieh was a former partner at Kleiner Perkins.
OpenAI explores collaboration with Japan's semiconductor industry

Apr 16, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira |Akira Oikawa

TOKYO -- OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence platform, will explore possible partnerships in Japan's semiconductor industry to source the high-performance chips AI depends on, Brad Lightcap, the company's COO, indicated during an interview with Nikkei in Tokyo on Monday. High-performance graphics processing units are essential for the learning process of generative AI.
Nvidia closes in on chip revenue crown as AI booms

Dec 23, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira |Nikkei senior

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- The semiconductor industry is poised to see a new revenue leader emerge for first time in three decades that isn't Intel or Samsung Electronics after a year in which everyone was talking about artificial intelligence. Nvidia holds a high market share in graphics processing units (GPUs), which have become vital to AI by providing the computing power for machine learning.
No one company can dominate generative AI: Amazon cloud chief

Dec 1, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira |Ryotaro Yamada

LAS VEGAS, U.S. -- The head of Amazon.com's cloud business does not believe that any single company will dominate generative artificial intelligence, but rather that the best approach is offering customers an array of options. "There's not going to be just one [foundation] model to rule them all, and there's not going to be one model that people use," Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky told Nikkei in an interview Thursday.
Generative AI must not be under control of big firms: Meta chief

Jul 21, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Control of the basic technologies for generative artificial intelligence should not be concentrated in the hands of a few big companies, Meta Platforms President Nick Clegg told Nikkei in a recent interview. "The computer capacity and amount of data required to build these new generative AI large language models are so great that only a small number of companies around the world are able to build them," Clegg said.
Meta to debut ad-creating generative AI this year, CTO says

Apr 5, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira

TOKYO -- Facebook owner Meta intends to commercialize its proprietary generative artificial intelligence by December, joining Google in finding practical applications for the tech. The company, which began full-scale AI research in 2013, stands out along with Google in the number of studies published.
Meta to debut ad-creating generative AI this year, CTO says

Apr 4, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira
Samsung unpacks S23 phones and Google-Qualcomm tie-up

Feb 2, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Kazuyuki Okudaira |Kotaro Hosokawa

PALO ALTO, U.S./SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics debuted its flagship Galaxy S23 smartphones alongside plans to collaborate with Google and Qualcomm in so-called cross reality, which combines virtual and augmented reality. Roh Tae-moon, who heads the South Korean company's mobile business, unveiled the new series at the Unpacked launch gala held Wednesday local time in San Francisco, the company's first in-person event in three years. Like the current S22 series, the S23 phones come in three versions.