Microsoft-backed OpenAI is increasingly expanding its footprint on the international scene. The parent company behind the popular AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT has announced plans to set up a base in Japan, where AI adoption among Japanese companies is rising. The company plans to open an office in Tokyo after opening offices in London and Dublin.
Microsoft AI Investments
Expanding into Japan follows the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Sam Altman, ‘s meeting with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida mid-last year. The company has already confirmed plans to expand its services in Japanese and intends to work with the Japanese government on mitigating risks and implementing new regulations.
The international expansion frenzy comes amid reports that the company intends to raise new funding at a valuation of $100 billion. Microsoft is one of the biggest investors in the company, having already channeled about $13 billion, which has allowed OpenAI to make a mark on the world of AI. Rising new funding at a valuation of $100 billion would make OpenAI the second most valuable startup, only behind Space Exploration.
OpenAI is one of many startups Microsoft uses to strengthen its exposure to new AI innovation. The company has already inked a strategic partnership with French startup Mistral AI, billed as the answer ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The tech giant has already invested close to $2.1 billion in the 10-month-old startup as it looks to unlock new commercial opportunities.
The $2.1 billion investment gives Microsoft access to Mistral’s new large language models (LLM), which will be available in its Azure cloud computing platform. In return, Microsoft will bolster Mistral’s access to new customers as it rolls out its multilingual assistant Le Chat.
Amazon $150B Investments
Microsoft is not the only company that has been ramping up its investments in AI amid the growing frenzy around the revolutionary technology. Amazon is one of the tech giant that has been spending big as it seeks to benefit and strengthen its competitive edge. Immediate reports indicate that the company plans to spend $150 billion  over the next 15 years on data centers.
The $150 billion spending spree is part of the tech giant’s plans to strengthen its cloud computing unit to make it suited and capable of handling the expected explosion in demand for AI applications and other digital services. While the company holds twice as much market share on cloud computing as Microsoft, it is looking to strengthen its edge further by focusing on AI.
Amazon intends to expand its existing server farm hubs in northern Virginia and Oregon and into Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to be better equipped to address the AI frenzy. Much of the data center expansion will cater to the rise in demand for corporate services like file storage and databases due to AI.
Using advanced and expensive chips in the data centers should lead to massive computing power, positioning Amazon to address the boom in generative artificial intelligence. Additionally, Amazon is building its tools to rival Open AI, having already partnered with other companies to power AI services in its servers. With the partnerships and investments, the company hopes to reap tens of billions of dollars in AI-related revenue
