A sign at a SoftBank Corp. store in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
Kiyoshi Ohta | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Japanese technology group SoftBank is seeking to develop a “world-class” Japanese-generated artificial intelligence model and plans to invest $960 million over the next two years to enhance its computing facilities. Nikkei report.
The training of large language models (LLM), such as OpenAI’s Chat GPT, requires advanced graphics processing units, which SoftBank plans to purchase from the US chip giant NvidiaNikkei reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
The report stated that SoftBank’s investment in computing infrastructure last year will reach 20 billion yen, and it is expected to spend 150 billion yen (approximately US$960 million) in 2024 and 2025.
“Nikkei” added that this latest investment is considered to be the largest investment of its kind by a Japanese company, and once completed, SoftBank may have the most powerful computing power in the country.
According to another report Nikkei AsiaJapan lacks private companies with the high-performance supercomputers needed to build LLM, Despite growing interest in the technology.
SoftBank’s investment could reportedly change that and give Japan a strong domestic presence in its field of generative artificial intelligence as international players try to enter the market.
Just last week, OpenAI opened its first office in Tokyo as part of its global expansion plans.At the same time, Microsoft said US$2.9 billion will be invested More than two years to increase the country’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
SoftBank expects to complete its first model in fiscal 2024, which will have 390 billion parameters, demonstrating the complexity of LLM. According to Nikkei, the company will begin developing a higher-performance model with 1 trillion parameters as soon as 2025.
Japan Telecom and other local companies NTT has announced It is planned to offer LLM degree this financial year. NTT said it will also invest 8 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) in growth areas such as data centers and artificial intelligence over the next five years.
According to data Statista Market InsightsIt is expected that Japan’s artificial intelligence market will grow to approximately US$13 billion by 2030, an increase of approximately 17 times compared with 2023.
SoftBank’s shares have been trending positively, rising about 20% so far this year, as the company shifts its focus to artificial intelligence. It is also a major shareholder in chip company Arm, which has experienced a boost in sales expectations amid the artificial intelligence boom.
Softbank is It is said Committed to building artificial intelligence data centers across Japan, it recently joined a plan to build a 65 billion yen center in Hokkaido.
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