Japan: Microsoft will invest nearly $3 billion to boost artificial intelligence

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it would invest $2.9 billion over the next two years in Japan to strengthen the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in this country, currently lagging behind in this now crucial technological sector. The commitment coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's state visit to Washington on Wednesday, who stressed his country's determination to become a major power in AI.

Microsoft established itself as a key player in AI last year thanks to its partnership with OpenAI, the start-up that created the famous chatbot ChatGPT, to the point of dethroning Apple as the largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization. “This is Microsoft’s largest investment in its 46-year history in Japan,” said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, in a statement.

The agreement includes the provision of "more advanced computing resources", he detailed, including ultra-advanced computer chips (GPUs), crucial for training AI models, and a strengthening of infrastructure of Microsoft in the “cloud” (dematerialized computer storage) in Japan. The US tech giant also pledged to invest in AI training for three million Japanese workers over the next three years, and announced the opening of its first lab in Tokyo, Microsoft Research Asia, which will work on AI and robotics.

The United States and Japan also announced two AI research partnerships between universities in their countries on Tuesday. These partnerships will be supported to the tune of $110 million by private companies, including Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon, as well as the Japanese SoftBank Group and its British subsidiary Arm.

AI is increasingly seen by Japanese companies as a means of improving labor productivity in the country, which is among the lowest among OECD countries, notably due to a Japanese market. still rigid employment and a hierarchical corporate culture based on seniority. Artificial intelligence should also help remedy the labor shortage becoming increasingly critical in many sectors of activity in Japan, due to its pronounced demographic decline (nearly 30% of its population is aged 65 and over).

Last year, the boss of SoftBank Group, Masayoshi Son, was alarmed by the delay taken by Japan in AI and urged the country to resolutely adopt these tools, otherwise it risks, according to him, being left behind. » and transform into a “goldfish”. Highlighting the growing importance of cybersecurity amid an increase in breaches and hacks, Microsoft also intends to work with the Japanese government to strengthen the country's cyber defenses, another major concern for Tokyo.

“The range of cybersecurity threats has become more complicated [...]. We're seeing it with China and Russia in particular, but we're also seeing more and more ransomware attacks around the world,” Brad Smith told the Japanese daily Nikkei. Google also opened a cybersecurity center of excellence in Tokyo last month. Various public-private research partnerships in quantum computing and semiconductor engineering were also announced between the United States and Japan last year at the G7 summit in Hiroshima (west), with financial contributions from large American firms such as IBM, Google and Micron.

The Japanese government is also investing very heavily to boost national semiconductor production, a sector where the archipelago has also been left behind in recent decades by its Taiwanese and South Korean neighbors. A first mega-factory from the global giant in the sector, the Taiwanese TSMC, was notably inaugurated in February in the south-west of Japan, and the group has already confirmed that it intends to build a second on site.