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[1/2] A response by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is seen on its website in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. The EU and its member states have dispatched officials for talks on governing the use of AI with at least 10 Asian countries including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, they said. The officials asked not be named as the discussions, whose extent has not been previously reported, remained confidential. Officials from Singapore and the Philippines expressed concern that moving overly hasty regulation might stifle AI innovation. Seoul will continue discussing AI regulation with the EU but is more interested in what the G7 is doing, a South Korean official said following a meeting with Breton.
Persons: Florence, Alexandra van Huffelen, van Huffelen, Thierry Breton, Breton, Fanny Potkin, Sam Nussey, Supantha Mukherjee, Joyce Lee, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, European, EU, Reuters, Officials, General Data, European Union, South Korean, Thomson Locations: Florence Lo, SINGAPORE, TOKYO, STOCKHOLM, Asia, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Canada, Turkey, Israel, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, United States, Hiroshima, Seoul
The timing of the listing was still unclear as money-losing PayPay needs to first demonstrate a clear path to profitability, the source said. SoftBank has previously set a PayPay listing as a goal, with one executive saying in November it was worth just under 1 trillion yen ($7.17 billion). Representatives for PayPay and SoftBank Group's (9984.T) domestic telecoms business, SoftBank Corp (9434.T), said they would not comment on speculation. PayPay is owned by SoftBank Corp, its internet business, Z Holdings (4689.T), and the group's second Vision Fund. PayPay booked a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of 11.9 billion yen in the year ended March, compared to a loss of 43.2 billion yen a year earlier.
Persons: SoftBank, SoftBank Group's, Kirk Boodry, Son, PayPay, Sam Nussey, Miho Uranaka, Scott Murdoch, David Dolan, Muralikumar Organizations: Companies, Z Holdings, PayPay, SoftBank Corp, Vision Fund, SoftBank, Syla Technologies, Rakuten Bank, SBI Sumishin, Bank, Astris Advisory, Mobile Marketing, Cambridge, Thomson Locations: . New York, Tokyo, New York, U.S, Astris Advisory Japan, Japan, England
Japan to give Sumco $530 mln to boost wafer capacity -Nikkei
  + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: 1 min
TOKYO, July 11 (Reuters) - Japan will give Sumco Corp (3436.T), a major producer of silicon wafers, a subsidy of up to 75 billion yen ($530 million) to fund additional capacity as part of efforts to bolster the country's semiconductor industry, the Nikkei newspaper reported. Sumco plans to invest 225 billion yen in factory buildings and equipment, with the subsidy from Japan's METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) covering a third of the cost, Nikkei said. Japan has been subsidising chipmakers and suppliers, including Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW), to reinvigorate the industry domestically and as countries extend control over a supply chain vital to key sectors. ($1 = 141.3300 yen)Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Sumco, Taiwan's TSMC, Sam Nussey, Richard Chang Organizations: Sumco Corp, Nikkei, Ministry, Economy, Trade, Industry, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationTOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - Japan is leaning toward softer rules governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) than the European Union, said an official close to deliberations, as it looks to the technology to boost economic growth and make it a leader in advanced chips. A softer Japanese approach could dull EU efforts to establish its rules as a global benchmark, with requirements such as companies disclosing copyrighted material used to train AI systems that generate content like text and graphics. EU industry chief Thierry Breton is visiting Tokyo this week to promote the bloc's approach to AI rule-making as well as to deepen cooperation in semiconductors. The government official did not elaborate on areas where Japan's rules were likely to differ from those of the EU. For Japan, AI could help cope with the population decline that is causing a labour shortage.
Persons: Dado Ruvic, Thierry Breton, Yutaka Matsuo, Matsuo, Breton, Japan's, Sam Nussey, Tim Kelly, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, EU, The University, Tokyo's, Learning, SoftBank, Microsoft, Japan, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, European, U.S, Tokyo, China
A softer Japanese approach could dull EU efforts to establish its rules as a global benchmark, with requirements such as companies disclosing copyrighted material used to train AI systems that generate content like text and graphics. EU industry chief Thierry Breton is visiting Tokyo this week to promote the bloc's approach to AI rule-making as well as to deepen cooperation in semiconductors. The government official did not elaborate on areas where Japan's rules were likely to differ from those of the EU. For Japan, AI could help cope with the population decline that is causing a labour shortage. "If you increased the GPUs in Japan by 10 times, it would probably still be less than what OpenAI has available," said Prof. Matsuo.
Persons: Dado Ruvic, Thierry Breton, Yutaka Matsuo, Matsuo, Breton, Japan's, Sam Nussey, Tim Kelly, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, EU, The University, Tokyo's, Learning, SoftBank, Microsoft, Japan, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, European, U.S, Tokyo, China
EU, Japan to deepen chip cooperation - Breton
  + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
[1/2] EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - The European Union (EU) will deepen cooperation with Japan on semiconductors, its industry chief said on Monday, as countries move to strengthen control over a technology vital for defence, electronic and automotive industries. The EU and Japan will work together to monitor the chip supply chain and facilitate exchange of researchers and engineers, Thierry Breton said. "We believe that it's extremely important to secure the supply chain of semiconductors," Thierry Breton told Reuters in Tokyo, where he is discussing cooperation on chips and artificial intelligence with the government and companies. The deepening cooperation between the EU and Japan comes as the bloc has pledged to reduce its dependence on China, which aims to increase its capabilities in high-end technology such as chips.
Persons: Thierry Breton, Issei Kato TOKYO, Rapidus, Breton, Sam Nussey, Chang, Ran Kim, Himani Organizations: Internal, Reuters, REUTERS, European Union, EU, IBM, JSR, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, EU, Leuven, Belgium, China
EU, Japan to deepen chip cooperation -Breton
  + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
[1/2] EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - The European Union will deepen cooperation with Japan on semiconductors, its industry chief said on Monday, as countries move to stengthen control over a technology vital for defence, electronic and automotive industries. "We believe that it's extremely important to secure the supply chain of semiconductors," Thierry Breton told Reuters in Tokyo, where he is discussing cooperation on chips and artificial intelligence with the government and companies. The EU and Japan will work together to monitor the chip supply chain and facilitate exchange of researchers and engineers, Breton said. The EU will also be supportive of Japanese semiconductor companies considering operating there, including through access to subsidies.
Persons: Thierry Breton, Issei Kato TOKYO, Breton, Sam Nussey, Chang, Ran Kim Organizations: Internal, Reuters, REUTERS, European, EU, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, European Union, EU
Factbox: Japan ramps up efforts to strengthen its chip industry
  + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +4 min
Below are investments in Japan announced by chipmakers and measures the government is taking to revive its semiconductor industry. Sony Group (6758.T) and auto parts maker Denso (6902.T), which will use the chips TSMC makes, are also investors. It said it would be the first chipmaker to bring EUV technology to Japan for production. It has offered TSMC a 476 billion yen subsidy, or about half the expected cost of the factory. Rapidus secured an initial 70 billion yen of funding from the government, and local media reported in April that the government was finalising a plan to provide an additional 300 billion yen.
Persons: TW, Rapidus, JIC, Makiko Yamazaki, Sam Nussey, Tim Kelly, Miho Uranaka, Miyoung Kim, Jamie Freed Organizations: Semiconductor, chipmakers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Sony Group, Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, Reuters, Business Machines, IBM, Samsung, Nikon, Tokyo, Japan Investment Corp, Innovation Network Corp of Japan, Toshiba, Japan Industrial Partners, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, Kyushu, Denso, KS, Yokohama, Japan's, Chitose, Hokkaido, Rapidus, U.S, China, State
JSR's market capitalisation was 677 billion yen ($4.71 billion) at Friday's market close. JIC would spend about 1 trillion yen on the acquisition, the Nikkei newspaper reported, injecting 500 billion yen into a new company to make the purchase and borrowing 400 billion yen from Mizuho Bank. JSR is a top supplier of photoresists, which are light-sensitive chemicals used to print patterns on wafers, to global chipmakers. JSR, which was set up in 1957 as a government-backed producer of synthetic rubber, reported a 20% jump in sales to 408.9 billion yen in the year ended March, while operating profit declined 33% to 29.4 billion yen. Shares in JSR, which unusually for a Japanese company has a foreign-born CEO, have gained 25% year-to-date.
Persons: JIC, Travis Lundy, Sam Nussey, Jamie Freed Organizations: JSR, Japan Investment Corp, Nikkei, Mizuho Bank, JIC, Quiddity Advisors, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, China, United States, Japan, Tokyo
TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - Japan's military is testing Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service with an eye to adopting the technology next fiscal year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, citing unnamed government sources. The Ministry of Defense already has access to communication satellites in geostationary orbit, but use of Starlink technology, operated by Musk's SpaceX, would add a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, the Yomiuri said. Japan's Self-Defense Forces have been testing Starlink since March with the system deployed in about 10 locations and in training, the newspaper said. Starlink technology is being deployed by Ukraine on the battlefield, and Russia is attempting to block its use in the region. The U.S. Defense Department said this month it had contracted to provide Starlink services there.
Persons: spokespeople, Musk, Sam Nussey, William Mallard Organizations: Elon, Yomiuri, Ministry of Defense, Musk's SpaceX, Defense Forces, Defence, SpaceX, The U.S . Defense Department, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Ukraine, Russia, The
TOKYO, June 21 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T) CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday that his tech investing conglomerate plans to shift its stance to "offence mode" amid excitement over advances in artificial intelligence. "The time has come to shift to offence mode," Son told shareholders at the group's annual general meeting. SoftBank reported a net loss of 970 billion yen ($6.85 billion) for the year ended March 31, cushioning losses at the Vision Fund unit by selling down its stake in Alibaba (9988.HK). SoftBank's liquid assets, which include cash, cash equivalents and an undrawn commitment line, rose to 5.1 trillion yen at March-end compared to 2.9 trillion yen a year earlier. SoftBank aims to list Arm on Nasdaq later this year and is seeking to raise between $8 billion and $10 billion, Reuters has reported.
Persons: Masayoshi Son, Son, SoftBank, Yoshimitsu Goto, ChatGPT, Astro, Tezuka Osamu, Sam Nussey, Anton, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sonali Paul Organizations: SoftBank, Vision Fund, Vision, HK, Astro Boy, Nasdaq, Reuters, Intel, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Alibaba
SoftBank's Son says he is 'heavy user' of ChatGPT
  + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group's (9984.T) Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday he is a "heavy user" of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot from Microsoft (MSFT.O) backed startup OpenAI. "I am chatting with ChatGPT everyday - I am a heavy user," Son told shareholders of the group's telecoms subsidiary. Son has stepped back from public pronouncements in recent months to focus on the planned listing of chip designer Arm as his technology investment conglomerate books heavy loss due to the sliding value of its portfolio. The group holds its annual general meeting on Wednesday with the market looking for details of Son's investment outlook at a time when excitement over AI is driving capital expenditure around the world. Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Group's, Masayoshi Son, Son, Sam Altman, Sam Nussey, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Microsoft, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Tokyo
SAN FRANCISCO, June 12 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is planning a fresh round of layoffs at its Vision Fund investment arm, two people familiar with the matter said, the latest cost-cutting move at the Japanese conglomerate. SoftBank's Vision Fund unit, which has booked heavy investment losses, had headcount of 349 at the end of March, according to a company report. If finalized, this would follow the elimination of about 150 jobs globally at the investing arm and SoftBank Group International in September. It cushioned the investment loss at the Vision Fund unit by selling down its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK). Vision Fund 2's portfolio was worth $31 billion at end-March compared with an acquisition cost of $49.9 billion.
Persons: ByteDance, SoftBank, SoftBank's, Krystal Hu, Sam Nussey, Kenneth Li, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: FRANCISCO, SoftBank Group Corp, Vision Fund, Fund, SoftBank, International, Vision, Alibaba, Holding, HK, Intel, Thomson Locations: U.S, China, The Cambridge, England, San Francisco, Tokyo
OpenAI CEO says 'optimistic' on global AI coordination
  + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
[1/6] Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, attends an open dialogue with students at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan June 12, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, June 12 (Reuters) - The CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Monday said a tour of capital cities had left him "quite optimistic" about prospects for global coordination on artificial intelligence (AI). Altman visited Japan in April, meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and saying he was considering opening an office in country. "All of the conversations have progressed quite well," Altman said on Monday without providing detail. Reporting by Sam Nussey and Tom Bateman; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Issei Kato TOKYO, Altman, Fumio Kishida, Sam Nussey, Tom Bateman, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Keio University, REUTERS, Microsoft Corp, Regulators, European, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia
TOKYO, June 2 (Reuters) - Japan's privacy watchdog said on Friday it has warned OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, not to collect sensitive data without people's permission. OpenAI should minimise the sensitive data it collects for machine learning, the Personal Information Protection Commission said in a statement, adding it may take further action if it has more concerns. The watchdog noted the need to balance privacy concerns with the potential benefits of generative AI including in accelerating innovation and dealing with problems such as climate change. The EU, a global trendsetter on tech regulation, is working on what could be the first set of rules to govern AI. Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Sam Nussey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Fumio, Kishida, Altman, Kantaro Komiya, Sam Nussey, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Microsoft, EU, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan
TOKYO, June 2 (Reuters) - Japan's privacy watchdog on Friday said it has warned OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, to not collect sensitive data without individuals' permission. The Personal Information Protection Commission in a statement said OpenAI should minimise the sensitive data it collects for machine learning and added it may take further action if it has more concerns. The warning comes as regulators around the world are scrambling to draw up rules governing the use of generative artificial intelligence, which can create text and images and whose impact has been compared by proponents to the arrival of the internet. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in April met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and announced a plan to expand services in Japan, ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit where Kishida led the discussion on regulating AI. Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Sam Nussey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Fumio Kishida, Kishida, Kantaro Komiya, Sam Nussey, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Microsoft, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan
TOKYO, June 2 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) shares jumped 5% in early Friday trade as the technology investor - which is preparing an initial public offering of chip designer Arm - was caught up in a frenzy for semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks. The Japanese conglomerate, which has been hit by the slumping value of its tech portfolio, has seen its shares gain 17% since last week's close. On Friday, SoftBank passed the psychological level of 6,000 yen for the first time since February. "We expressed a view that SBG stock will rally ahead of the ARM IPO later in the year... "He feels that 'finally my time has come'," SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto told reporters at an earnings briefing last month.
Persons: SoftBank, Jefferies, Atul Goyal, Masayoshi Son, Yoshimitsu Goto, Sam Nussey, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: SoftBank Group Corp, U.S, Nvidia Corp, Semiconductor, ARM, Advantest Corp, Tokyo Electron, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Philadelphia
May 29 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) owned chip designer Arm on Monday rolled out new technology for mobile devices and Taiwan smartphone chip maker MediaTek Inc (2454.TW) said it will be using it for its next-generation product. In Arm's blog announcing the new products, MediaTek said the new chips will help improve the performance of its next-generation smartphones. "Investors have become extremely sensitive to any news about AI or chip technology and jumped on this Arm news," said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. Last month the Financial Times reported that Arm was developing its own chip to showcase the capabilities of its designs. Arm said the Cortex-X4 was taped out on TSMC's N3E process and said it was an industry first.
May 22 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co will acquire a majority stake in U.S. asset manager Fortress Investment Group from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Mubadala and Fortress Investment said in a joint statement on Monday. After the completion of the deal, Fortress' management will own a 30% stake in the company, while Mubadala Capital will hold the rest, according to the statement. Fortress management will hold a class of equity that entails it to appoint a majority of seats on the board. Fortress will appoint Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack as co-CEOs and Pete Briger as chairman, the companies said.
Sony said it is considering a time frame of two to three years to spin off Sony Financial Group - whose operations include life insurance and banking - with an eye to listing the business and retaining a stake of slightly under 20%. The conglomerate is pursuing synergies between its business lines, which include video games, music and movies. A partial spin-off of Sony Financial, which the group said was made possible by changes in tax rules, would allow the newly listed business to retain Sony branding. The finance business reported a 5% fall in revenue to 1.45 trillion yen ($10.74 billion) in the year ended March. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said he recently watched the movie in Tokyo and used to play "Super Mario" too.
Sony eyes listing for heavyweight finance unit
  + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
Sony said at a strategy briefing it is looking at listing Sony Financial Group, whose operations include life insurance and banking, and retaining a stake of slightly less than 20%. The announcement comes just three years after Sony took full control of the business in a $3.7 billion transaction. The financial unit reported a 5% decline in revenue to 1.45 trillion yen ($10.74 billion) in the year ended March. Operating profit rose 49% to 223.9 billion yen following one-off gains from a real estate sale. Sony shares were up 6% in Tokyo morning trade, a day after the group announced a buyback of up to 2.03% of its shares.
TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) - Japan is arranging subsidies that could be worth around 15 billion yen ($110 million) to South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS) for a chip facility it is considering setting up near Tokyo, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, would construct the facility including its first chip packaging test line in Japan near its existing research and development centre in Yokohama, Reuters reported in late March. The facility could cost around 40 billion yen to set up, of which about a third would be subsidised by the Japanese government, said the source, who declined to be named because the information is not public. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday plans to meet with executives from leading chip firms including Samsung to strengthen multilateral cooperation. Japan said last month it would give 260 billion yen in subsidies to domestic chipmaker Rapidus, which is building a factory on the northern island of Hokkaido, in addition to 70 billion yen of government funding secured earlier.
Rakuten shares slump 6% on expected $2.2 bln new share issuance
  + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
The Japanese e-commerce and fintech company's board could meet as early as this week to decide on the capital raising, which is expected to raise roughly 300 billion yen ($2.2 billion), sources told Reuters on Monday. Prospects of a share dilution led on Monday to the biggest one-day drop in three years. "Whenever there is a large sale of new equity, that is dilutive but it also forces decisions about whether to hold. Some will be upset and will sell," said analyst Travis Lundy of Quiddity Advisors, who publishes on Smartkarma. Rakuten said in a statement it was not true that any such decision had been made.
The public offering is expected to raise roughly 300 billion yen ($2.2 billion) but the amount could change depending on Rakuten's share price, which will influence the pricing of its new equity issuance. Additionally, Rakuten plans to issue shares to founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and a fund controlled by the entrepreneur, the person said. A Rakuten spokesperson said it was not something it could comment on. Rakuten shares erased gains and tumbled, closing down 9% after the Reuters report. The group has some 400 billion yen in bonds due by 2024 and a further 430 billion yen in 2025, Refinitiv data showed.
[1/2] The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2017. The fourth-quarter earnings come after the Vision Fund unit posted four consecutive quarters of investment loss, with investors debating whether the value of privately held stakes have further to fall. Portfolio firms of the Vision Fund unit whose shares climbed during January-March include e-commerce firm Coupang Inc (CPNG.N) and robotics firm AutoStore Holdings Ltd (AUTO.OL). What matters is Arm for SoftBank to demonstrate it can get results as an investment company," said SMBC Nikko Securities analyst Satoru Kikuchi. Still, SoftBank executives are unlikely to offer meaningful new information about the Arm listing on Thursday, Kikuchi said.
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