BROWSING: Japan

The US and Japan have signed two new university research partnerships to collaborate on the technical and ethical development of artificial intelligence (AI). They have received $110 million in combined private sector investment from Amazon, Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Softbank, plus “nine Japanese companies”....

The Japanese arm of Cisco has joined with Mitsui Information and KDDI Engineering, parts of trading group Mitsui Group and telecoms operator KDDI respectively, to deploy a private 5G network at the Shinwa Komaki SFiC Lab in Komaki City, in the Aichi Prefecture in...

Lenovo will use the Rakuraku and arrows brands to create a new company under its mobile business group Lenovo has completed the purchase of FCNT Ltd’s assets, which include the arrows and Rakuraku smartphone brands in Japan. Lenovo will use these new assets to create...

NTT Docomo partnered with Nvidia, Fujitsu and Wind River on the GPU-accelerated 5G network NTT Docomo this week announced the deployment of a GPU-accelerated wireless solution in its network in Japan, reportedly making it the first telco in the world to adopt a GPU-accelerated commercial 5G network and...

Softbank Group has agreed with US-based supply-chain technology supplier Symbiotic to create a new joint-venture company, GreenBox Systems, to sell the latter’s AI-geared warehouse automation systems. As part of the deal, the new business has been appointed as the exclusive supplier of Symbotic’s warehouse...

The LoRa Alliance has trumpeted growth in the Asia Pacific region, ahead of its bi-annual meetup in Tokyo in October. It claimed “millions of sensors” have been added in the region in the first half of 2023 on the backs of “large projects” in...

The ransomware attack, allegedly launched by Russia, targeted a container terminal at the Port of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture Japan’s biggest maritime port suffered a ransomware attack that significantly disrupted cargo operations. The attack, allegedly launched by Russia, hit a container terminal at the Port...

Funded by the Japanese government, Rakuten’s new lab should be open in March 2023 Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony UK announced Monday plans to open what they’re calling an Open RAN Customer Experience Center in the U.K. It’s coming to Rakuten Symphony’s offices by March 2023, and...

Japanese IT firm Fujitsu is to start testing private 5G for equipment inspection at its major data centre in Yokohama, in the Kanagawa prefecture, as a springboard to drive “operational resilience and process automation” in the broader data centre market. The Fujitsu project, to...

Global cellular IoT provider 1NCE has launched in Japan with operator Softbank. Its debut in Japan comes six months after Softbank’s expanded stake in the firm was discussed, and four months after it was confirmed. Softbank, already a major investor in Cologne-headquartered 1NCE, announced...

Australia-based semiconductor company Morse Micro, developing Wi-Fi HaLow for low-power mid-range IoT solutions, has raised $140 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Japan-based chip services company MegaChips, with participation also from existing investors, including Blackbird Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Clean...

NTT is making waves in the private 5G market right now; deals with BMW on a test installation at its production site in Dingolfing in Germany and with local airport operator Fraport on a major commercial engagement at Frankfurt Airport (which followed a parallel...

Japanese mobile network operator KDDI suffered an equipment failure this past weekend that caused what it says is its biggest outage ever.

Japanese manufacturing group Mitsubishi Electric has inducted country-mate NTT Docomo into its new Industry 4.0 alliance in Thailand in order to offer private 5G with smart manufacturing solutions from other partners. Mitsubishi Electric called it “the first case of private 5G with Japanese equipment”...

Over 80 percent of (more than four in five) chief information officers and “senior leaders” plan to deploy private 5G networks within the next 24 months. So says a new survey of 200-odd “top executives” by global business solutions provider NTT. Their motivation to...

Singapore-based IoT service provider UnaBiz has raised a further $25 million as part of a Series B funding round led by Tokyo-based investment company SPARX Group. The round was oversubscribed, the company said, with participation also from Taiwanese venture and private equity firm CDIB...

Landis+Gyr has acquired Turkey-based smart meter maker Luna Elektrik Elektronik for a “high double digit million dollar fee”, it said. It is the latest in a string of deals for the Swiss energy management company in 2021, in both the smart metering and electric...

KDDI-owned IoT connectivity provider Soracom has announced new investment from six technology firms, including from two major IoT customers, in the form Nippon Gas (NICIGAS) and Sourcenext Corporation in the Japanese utility industry, as well as from Japan-based trio Hitachi, Secom, and Sony Group,...

The Yahoo Japan transaction will go into effect after Verizon's pending deal with Apollo closes Verizon has signed over Yahoo Japan assets to Z Holdings, a division of Japan’s SoftBank Group, for approximately $1.6 billion, securing the Japanese company’s rights to the branding and technology...

 Samsung Electronics will implement a dedicated private 5G network at Japanese service provider Optage's plant facility. The network will support 4K Ultra HD-based live-streaming videos, transmitted from multiple devices, including cameras located throughout the plant, establishing a real-time video monitoring system. With the new video...

Local Japanese telco KATCH is looking to hoover up Industry 4.0 contracts among automotive and high-tech manufacturers in the Aichi Prefecture, in Japan, after apponting Finnish vendor Nokia and local systems integrator CTC to deploy a dedicated private 5G network in the region. KATCH wants...

The Japanese government assigned the three largest mobile operators in Japan — NTT Docomo, KDDI au and Softbank, as well as new arrival Rakuten Mobile — 5G spectrum in April 2019. In the coming years, the four Japanese carriers are expected to spend more...

Singapore-based Sigfox operator and IoT service provider UnaBiz is providing low-power GPS trackers to monitor Asian black bears in Japan, and help keep the peace with local residents. The company is working with the Picchio Wildlife Research Centre, a wildlife tour operator and conservation company...

Nokia has announced a deal with Danish network operator and internet provider Cibicom to deploy an LTE network in the 450MHz band to underpin mission critical services and “mass volume IoT adoption”. Separately, the Finnish vendor has said it is working with broadband provider...