Photo/Illutration Jensen Huang, left, the CEO of American semiconductor giant Nvidia Corp., meets with economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki district on Dec. 5. (Ryo Aibara)

The CEO of American semiconductor giant Nvidia Corp. intends to set up a research and development base for generative artificial intelligence in Japan.

The company will also invest in domestic startup companies, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang announced in a meeting with the Japanese economy minister on Dec. 5.

“Japan is also heavily investing in the development of generative AI,” Yasutoshi Nishimura, the economy minister, said in the meeting. “Leveraging the country’s strength, we would like to create innovations that can lead the world.”

For such developments, “we need Nvidia’s Graphics Processing Units (GPU), and cooperation is essential,” he added.

Huang was excited hearing about Japan’s vision.

He outlined three cooperative measures: establishing a research and development base in Japan; investing in startups; and cultivating AI talent.

The plans are expected to be put into practice in 2024, according to economy ministry officials.

After the meeting, Nishimura said at a news conference, “Huang expressed strong expectations for AI development in the field of robotics, where Japan is strong.”

The development and operation of generative AI requires computational power to process vast amounts of data, for which high-performance GPUs are used.

Nvidia holds about 80 percent of the global market share in semiconductors for AI.

Huang met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Dec. 4 and responded to Kishida’s request by pledging to supply GPUs to Japan as much as he could.

“(Global) demand (for GPUs) is very high, but I promised the prime minister that we will do our very best to prioritize Japan’s requirement for them,” he told reporters after meeting with Kishida.

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