Artificial intelligence is increasingly emerging as a strategic sector. On the one hand, it’s a colossal market. On the other, more and more countries are looking to acquire powerful hardware to power their AI. However, this equipment is scarce, and securing its supply is no easy task, especially when it takes 52 weeks for a shipment of H100s to be delivered. To this end, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang!
A meeting with NVIDIA’s CEO to guarantee Japan’s chip supply?
Naturally, the aim of the meeting was to try and secure the supply of AI cards to Japan. As we told you, NVIDIA boards are very, very much in demand on the international scene. The reason? The chameleon is virtually the only player to offer high-performance hardware for this field. Needless to say, demand is high, stocks are low and delivery times are long.
However, Japan is keen to support its own companies in developing its AI sector. We’re talking here about big companies like NEC, NTT or Sakura Internet, for example. As you can see, the aim is to open up its own data centers, so as to be independent in this area.
To achieve this, the country is giving itself the means and increasing its budget to $13.6 billion. Part of this sum will be invested in NVIDIA hardware. Another will be used to convince foundries to set up shop in Japan. There is already talk of a TSMC in Kobe or the opening of a new Rapidus fab in Hokkaido.
