Toru Nishikawa (Right), Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Preferred Networks, and Daisuke Okanohara, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Researcher, with A Fanuc Corp. Robotic Arm at their company’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, March 16, 2018.
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Preferred networks is a little-known name outside of japan, but the toyota-backed artificial intelligence unicorn Goal of Going Global.
“For the past 10 years, we have been working on using ai to solve real-world problems,” Chief Executive Researcher, DaisukeOkanohara, Told CNBC’s “Managing Asia,The company has ventted into Industries as Varied as Trucking, Health Care and Robots.
Preferred Networks has drawn the Attention of Big Names Such as Automotive Giant ToyotaWhich invested in 2017 10.5 billion yen ($ 95.4 million) in the company on top of an initial 1 billion yen in 2015.
Preferred networks is one of the less unicorns in Japan. Thought Japan’s Startup Ecosystem has grown, Japanese Companies Valued at Over $ 1 Billion Make Up Just 0.5% of the World’s Total, According to an International Monetary Fund Working Paper Published in December.
The Deep-Laarning Startup is also in a Joint Venture with Trading House Mitsui & Co. in the field of autonomous driving. The two have invested in a company, t2, in order to address challenges associateed with the trucking industry, involuding “extramely long” work that stretch into that stretch into the night and a declining pool of Drivers, Said Ceo Toru Nishikawa.
But competition in the car industry was also a factor. Acknowledging the company’s current limitations, okanohara added, “IF we we We WEDE to Tackle the problem of regular cars, it would be extramely different. Driving, and it is a very competitive field. “
Preferred Networks’ AI Ambitions Have Since Gone Much Further Afield. But compared with other ai solutions in the digital space, in which it is “relatively easy to achieve results with users,” Dealing with Real-WORLD PROBLEMS Requires Requishes More Time, Okano SAID.
When asked how long it takes for the company’s technologies to start making money, Nishikawa said it could take as many as many as many as five years in a field like ai-baaed materials discovery.
“First, We Start Joint Research with Companies and then Assess Whether or not it can be commercialized. Be provided to customers, “He said, adding that” in total, this process takes about three to five years before commercialization and practical launch. “
As for the latest ai developments, okanoharo said that preferred networks had recognized Deepsek’s “very Good Technology” and “Paid Close Attention to It” That “Various Players” Will Soon Enter The Chip Industry.
Preferred Networks is hoping to be amon them. Recognizing that Nvidia’s Generative AI Strategy Has Fared Well Thus Far but has a Graphics Processing Unit Design That that is Not Yeet “Optimal,” Optimal, “Nishikawa Said Preferred Networks is in the Midst of” Creator Gain a competitive advantage.
IPO Plans
Whether the company will be able to achieve the scale of its Ambitions Remains to be Seen. For now, it’s eyeing foreign investors, and is receiving “a lot inquiries in the fields of entertainment, semiconductor and computers,” According to nishkawa, who noted that “these are limits to whats can be done. In Japan Alone, and the Global Market is Much Bigger Than the Japanese Market. “
Getting an initial public offering is one of the company’s goals, he added. When asked for a time frame, okanohara said, “I think that need for huge funds will come at the time when we introduce our hardware products, such as semiconductors, to the work. SO I Think We will aim to go public at that timing, “Adding that cock take about three to five years.