ITmedia AI+ is aggregating community discussion about a model called "Ox Alpha" - an apparently unreleased AI system generating significant conversation in Japan's AI community. Stealth models are a documented phenomenon: some of the most significant capability jumps have been previewed to limited audiences months before public announcement. Whether Ox Alpha is the next one is the question worth watching.
25/08/2026 à 16h27 9 11
Sharp has introduced a new model of its "Pocketomo" conversational AI robot - and the defining design choice is that it won't fully agree with you. The character is intentionally designed to push back, express boredom, and decline to validate. In a product category defined by helpfulness and positive reinforcement, this is a deliberate inversion worth examining.
25/08/2026 à 16h23 10 11
Tokyo just greenlighted another $940 million in state funding for Rapidus, its homegrown 2nm chipmaker. The commitment is clear - Japan is not blinking on semiconductor sovereignty, even as the timeline slips.
24/08/2026 à 20h57 9 8
Nikkei Asia reports Japanese stock volatility has hit an 18-year high, with AI-related trades as the driver. That's a market saying it cannot yet price what the AI capex cycle actually means for Tokyo-listed industrials.
19/08/2026 à 22h31 12 14
Japanese companies are collectively upgrading earnings guidance as global AI capex flows through the upstream supply chain - semiconductors, manufacturing equipment, materials
18/08/2026 à 09h30 9 9
NEC is building an organization where AI managers generate AI worker agents on demand and assign them roles. Japan's enterprise AI story just got more radical than expected.
10/08/2026 à 16h32 10 12
Un investissement conjoint record dans les capteurs d'images avancés, pas les puces IA. Le signal : la demande TSMC déborde du seul compute, et le Japon devient un hub de fabrication stratégique.
10/08/2026 à 16h29 6 5
China's export restrictions on rare earths are showing up in trade data: shipments to Japan and the US have plunged. For AI hardware supply chains dependent on these materials, the geopolitical chokepoint is becoming real.
08/08/2026 à 09h58 11 13
Gartner Japan's 2026 Digital Workplace Hype Cycle places agentic AI at the peak of inflated expectations. The more actionable finding: shadow AI - employees using personal AI tools outside IT governance - is already widespread in enterprises that haven't solved for it yet.
05/08/2026 à 16h40 16 10
NTT Data annonce un programme d'investissement de 9,6 milliards de dollars en data centers au Japon. C'est la couche infrastructure qui manquait à la pile IA japonaise - et elle arrive à grande échelle.
04/08/2026 à 12h00 13 17
Two of Japan's biggest system integrators confirmed AI demand traction on their earnings. ITmedia reads it as the vindication of the Nvidia-centric stack.
03/08/2026 à 13h23 14 10
Japan's ATLA hires PFN for a defense-planning AI proof-of-concept using PLaMo 3.0 Prime. The Japan AI stack extends from Woven City to the operational rooms of the JSDF.
29/07/2026 à 12h46 18 13
