Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

People walk outside the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai in October 2024
BUSINESS
May 17, 2026
India missed out on AI and now its run as market darling may be over
In a stark shift, India’s stock market is on the verge of dropping out of the world’s five biggest for the first time in three years.
An AI industrial humanoid robot is demonstrated at Foxconn’s annual tech day in Taipei in November.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2026
Will artificial intelligence solve wealthy nations’ debt woes?
If anything, the technology is likely to cause profound — and costly — problems on the way to the halcyon future.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) in bonds in the largest ever yen deal by a non-Japanese company as competition to fund data centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2026
Alphabet sells biggest yen bond on record by foreign issuer
The Google parent sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) of bonds as competition to fund centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia.
WORLD
May 15, 2026
Pentagon’s ‘deal team six’ aims to challenge China’s grip on rare earth power
A new Pentagon unit is racing to break China’s grip on rare earths with billions in financing and creative dealmaking, marking a far more aggressive U.S. industrial policy shift.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Ichiro Aisawa (right) addresses a meeting of a cross-party council on election campaigning held in a parliamentary building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 15, 2026
Japan to order social media operators to combat misinformation in elections
Actions expected to be taken by social media operators include halting reward payments to users and improving their capacity to respond to content deletion requests.
TDK CEO Noboru Saito says the firm is prepared to add investments to ride the global boom in generative artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
TDK ready to step up investment to ride AI wave
CEO Noboru Saito sees the surge of AI applications and services escalating the need for denser and more advanced energy storage.
MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking are all likely to gain access to Anthropic’s artificial intelligence model, Mythos.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Japan megabanks set to win Mythos access after Bessent visit
Mythos access could be granted to MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank as early as the end of May.
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2026
SoftBank profit jumps, emboldens Son to bet more on OpenAI
SoftBank earned a net income of ¥1.83 trillion in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of ¥295.2 billion.
Yuki Kusumi, president of Panasonic Holdings, in the city of Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, in April 2025
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 13, 2026
After cost cuts and reforms, Panasonic enters decisive stage in turnaround
Fiscal 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the major manufacturer as it seeks to break free from prolonged stagnation and place its recovery on firmer ground.
Samsung, whose operating profit soared 48-fold in the March quarter, is projected to surpass Apple and Alphabet to rank second only to Nvidia among the world’s most profitable tech companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 12, 2026
South Korea roils market by floating ‘citizen dividend’ from AI gains
The benchmark Kospi sank as much as 5.1%, then pared losses after the influential policy adviser clarified he wanted to tap “excess tax revenue” generated from the AI boom.
Batteries for electric vehicles at a Gotion High-tech Co. plant in Hefei, China
BUSINESS / Tech
May 12, 2026
China’s green tech firms target new consumers hit by Iran war energy shock
Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels have been wooing nations looking to wean themselves off costly fuel imports.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, is considering a multibillion-dollar investment in France for an AI data center project, people familiar with the matter says.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2026
SoftBank in talks for major data center project in France
CEO Masayoshi Son is considering a multibillion-dollar investment in the country as part of SoftBank’s broader buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
An exhibit at a brain research facility at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology in China in 2025
WORLD
May 12, 2026
Why brain implants are more than a sci-fi fantasy
Researchers have been working for decades on brain-computer interfaces to help those suffering from paralysis, blindness and hearing loss.
SoftBank will partner with South Korea’s Cosmos Lab and DeltaX to enable mass production of large-scale battery cells from the fiscal year starting next April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2026
SoftBank plans to make large-scale batteries for AI data centers
SoftBank Corp. will partner with South Korea’s Cosmos Lab and DeltaX to enable mass production from the fiscal year starting next April, the firm said.
Alphabet’s Gemini artificial intelligence model is considered one of the best in the industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 11, 2026
AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world’s biggest company
Over the past year, Alphabet has gone from an artificial intelligence afterthought to the one firm in the market with dominant positions in nearly every aspect of the technology.
GO, a taxi-hailing app operator backed by Goldman Sachs Group, is targeting a valuation of about ¥200 billion in an initial public offering that could raise up to ¥90 billion, with an announcement possible as early as next week and a listing aimed for mid-June.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2026
Goldman-backed Go app seeks $1.3 billion valuation in Tokyo IPO
The taxi-hailing app operator may announce the IPO as soon as next week and aims to list in mid-June.
The plan is meant to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 8, 2026
FSA to develop AI agent to help with customer service at regional banks
The aim is to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
Sony Group said Friday it expects operating profit to rise about 11% to ¥1.6 trillion for the year through March 2027, broadly in line with market expectations.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2026
Sony announces $3 billion buyback as memory prices take toll
Sony’s shares are down 22% this year as escalating component costs erode margins across the consumer electronics industry.
Mitsubishi UFJ is enhancing its services partly by leveraging expertise from technology giants.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2026
MUFG to form strategic partnership with Google
The two firms will develop a service to assist customers in online shopping and payments with the help of artificial intelligence.
Digital minister Hisashi Matsumoto answers questions at a Lower House plenary session in April.
JAPAN
May 6, 2026
Government to launch AI pilot program to boost efficiency and encourage tech’s adoption
Gennai, a generative artificial intelligence platform developed for internal use by civil servants, will be rolled out across 39 government agencies.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival