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(Bloomberg) — Sakana AI sees potential for more strategic investors in Japan as rising US-China tensions spur the country to boost its own AI ecosystem.
Growing geopolitical risks are heightening interest in the Tokyo-based startup, which recently announced a $100 million-plus funding round that includes Nvidia Corp., according to Sakana’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer David Ha.
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“We think that a strong economy like Japan would want to advance their own AI ecosystem, and we want to be part of that,” Ha said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Monday. He added, however, that the recent funding round gives the company “more than enough ammunition” to develop its technology.
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Sakana’s focus on a large number of small models that work together, rather than on one large foundational model, is attracting outsized interest in resource-poor Japan. The island nation, which relies almost wholly on energy imports, has been exploring more energy-efficient ways to catch up in artificial intelligence.
The group will work with Nvidia on research as well as on AI infrastructure in Japan, including data centers, Ha said.
Japan has given an outsized welcome to the venture, which has around 20 people. The company’s co-founders include Ha, who helped set up the Google Brain research team in Tokyo, and Llion Jones, one of the authors of a key paper that launched the current AI wave.
—With assistance from Min Jeong Lee.
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