Microsoft to invest $2.9 billion in Japan

The Microsoft company announced that over the next two years it will invest 2.9 billion dollars in Japan to support the development of artificial intelligence in the country.
The announcement coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to Washington, underscoring Tokyo's commitment to becoming a major power in the field of artificial intelligence.
Microsoft has become a major player in the development of artificial intelligence through its partnership with OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, which has pushed it ahead of Apple as the world's largest company by market capitalization.
"This is Microsoft's largest investment in its 46-year history in Japan," said Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft. "These investments are essential to building a stable AI economy in Japan."
According to Smith, the investment includes providing "more advanced computing resources," including powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), which are critical for AI applications to run.
Microsoft also pledged to invest in training three million Japanese workers in AI skills over the next three years and announced the opening of its first Microsoft Research Asia lab in Tokyo, which will work in the field of AI and robotics.
Underscoring the growing importance of cybersecurity amid increased hacking attacks and breaches, Microsoft also announced plans to work with the Japanese government to strengthen the country's cyber defenses.
"The cybersecurity threat landscape has become more challenging ... We're seeing that from China and Russia in particular, but we're also seeing increasing ransomware activity around the world," Smith told the Nikkei news channel./BGNES