Taiyo Yuden sees'scary' levels of AI parts demand risking supply chain Multilayer ceramic capacitors, which are tiny components that regulate and stabilize power flow in electronic devices, are becoming a growing bottleneck in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers. Taiyo Yuden is fielding "scary" levels of demand for its high-end artificial intelligence server components, stretching capacity and increasing the risk of supply chain hiccups. The Tokyo-based company, which makes multilayer ceramic capacitors, will likely need to accelerate spending to expand output capacity, Chief Executive Officer Katsuya Sase said in an interview. MLCCs, which are tiny components that regulate and stabilize power flow in electronic devices, are becoming a growing bottleneck in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers. Taiyo Yuden and Murata Manufacturing comprise the bulk of the world's supplies of high-end MLCCs. "The volumes we are seeing today -- it's scary," Sase said.

BYD debuts China's most advanced EV chip in smart-driving push BYD on Thursday unveiled what it calls China's first automotive-grade 4-nanometer chip for self-driving cars. BYD, the world's largest electric vehicle maker, unveiled a series of technology advances, including what it calls China's first automotive-grade 4-nanometer chip for self-driving cars. The semiconductor breakthrough approaches the lead of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, which currently makes chips with a geometry of 7 nm but has pledged to debut 1.4 nm chips by 2031. It's designed to allow BYD's computer-assisted driving to stand out from a crowded Chinese EV market that includes rivals such as Xpeng and Xiaomi. Facing eight months in a row of falling sales and intense competition for more advanced charging and intelligent driving technologies, BYD is looking to spark more demand for its vehicles.

Anthropic's rise came by doubling down on delivering generative artificial intelligence to enterprise clients rather than general users. Artificial intelligence company Anthropic said Thursday it had raised $65 billion in a new funding round that values the Claude maker at $965 billion, more than its archrival OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. The latest fundraising round confirms Anthropic's place as one of the most significant players in AI, with the startup led by Dario Amodei having drawn fans for its coding powers and state-of-the-art models. Anthropic's rise came by doubling down on delivering generative AI to enterprise clients rather than general users, the path initially chosen by OpenAI. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Japan is one of many locations in Asia where Chinese companies access American AI chips -- by renting hardware that's owned by foreign firms and installed in overseas data centers. Taiwan prosecutors suspect that three individuals successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by Taiwan's Keelung District Prosecutors Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the U.S. has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked the island democracy's first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the U.S. to take a more active role in curtailing China's tech access. When Taiwan authorities apprehended the three defendants -- who've now been officially detained -- they also seized about 50 servers for which they accuse the trio of preparing fraudulent export documents. But at least one shipment had already gone through Taiwan customs, according to the people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing criminal investigation.

Utilizing artificial intelligence and robots -- and more specifically humanoids -- is crucial in making up for Japan's labor shortage. This was the dominant talking point at the Humanoids Summit on Thursday when the two-day event kicked off in Tokyo. Hosted by a California-based robotics company of the same name, it is the first time the summit, which was previously held in Silicon Valley and London, is being held in Asia. It is expected to draw 2,000 attendees from 30 countries and 300 companies, according to the organizers. Japan was chosen for its "foundational role in the global robotics ecosystem for decades," said Terence Bennett, executive director of the Bay Area Robotics Association, in his opening remarks.

Realistic AI-created content to require labels during Japan's election campaigns Aisawa Ichiro of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party speaks during a meeting of lawmakers Wednesday held to discuss the use of AI in election campaigns. The ruling and opposition parties agreed Wednesday to require videos and images related to election campaigns made using artificial intelligence to be labeled as "AI-created," as part of efforts to tackle misinformation on social media during campaign periods. The requirement will apply to videos and images that may be mistaken for those not generated by AI, while those that can be clearly identified as made using AI will be excluded. The parties aim to submit a bill that defines the requirement to parliament during its current session, set to end in July, to put the rule in place ahead of unified local elections next spring. The bill will add a provision to the public offices election law to prohibit internet users from harming the fairness of elections by spreading false information about candidates. Whether to impose penalties on offenders remains to be determined.

Iran and U.S. trade airstrikes after Trump dismisses report of Hormuz deal DUBAI/WASHINGTON - Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Thursday it targeted a U.S. airbase after the U.S. military carried out what a Washington official said were strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected a report he was close to a compromise deal with Tehran. The escalation in hostilities highlighted threats to the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran that took effect in early April, dampening hopes for a peace deal and sending oil prices surging again. A U.S. official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, said the military shot down four Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories.

Former Giants manager's daughter consulted ChatGPT before reporting altercation The 18-year-old daughter of former Yomiuri Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe said she consulted ChatGPT before reporting an alleged altercation with her father to a child guidance center. The 18-year-old daughter of former Yomiuri Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe said in a letter released on Tuesday that she had consulted ChatGPT before reporting an alleged physical altercation with her father to the child guidance center. Abe resigned from his position on Tuesday following his arrest on suspicion of physically assaulting his daughter . He has been released from police custody. According to reports, two of his daughters had been involved in an argument the previous day.

Samsung Electronics is the world's biggest supplier of the memory chips that go into everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to servers at artificial intelligence data centers. Samsung Electronics union members have voted in favor of a compensation deal that will hand chip workers an average bonus of about $340,000, staving off a strike that threatened to disrupt global chip supply. The company's largest union said the deal was signed after about 74% of its members voted in favor of the agreement. Workers accepted a wage proposal that was tentatively agreed by labor leaders last week, just 90 minutes before a planned strike at the world's largest memory chipmaker. Samsung's shares rose as much as 8% in Seoul on Wednesday.

'My job is going': U.K. workers squeezed out by AI In the U.K., the IMF estimated in 2024 that more than two-thirds of British workers perform tasks that AI could potentially carry out. London - When a client asked her a year ago to design a glossary to train an artificial intelligence system, translator Jessica Spengler realized she was going to train her own replacement. "That was the day I really thought ... my job is going," said the 52-year-old, who translates into English for German educational and historical organizations. In the U.K., where services account for around 80% of the economy, AI has become flexible, fast and inexpensive competition for many white-collar workers, with the impacts beginning to emerge. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.