Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Inc., Kazumasa Okayasu has entered into a capital and business alliance with JR East Consultants Co., Ltd. and Kyushu Railway Company, and has raised additional funds, completing a total of approximately 1.11 billion yen.
With the Series B+ funding, the company will begin development of reconfigurable AI semiconductor chips to be installed in the next generation of its edge AI platform, “SEASIDE (A Specified Edge AI SoM for Intelligence Design and Embedding)-R6.” In addition, the company will strengthen its human resources and build a mass production system in line with business expansion. The company will continue to accelerate the development of edge AI computers and the development of reconfigurable AI semiconductor chips, and contribute to solving social issues by promoting the implementation of more advanced AI systems.
With the previous round of funding, we began mass production of the edge AI platform “SEASIDE-R6,” which has been adopted in several solutions. “SEASIDE-R6” is a computer platform based on practical knowledge gained through numerous PoC projects, enabling stable operation of AI processing for the long term in harsh environments such as railways and manufacturing.
However, the AI processing required by customers in the next-generation systems will be very heavy, and heat generation is expected to be an issue. With this funding, the company will design and manufacture reconfigurable semiconductor chips for edge AI that apply reconfigurable technology such as FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and install them on the next-generation platform of “SEASIDE.”
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With reconfigurable AI semiconductor chips, customers can configure circuits specialized for their AI processing, eliminating unnecessary processing and circuits, thereby resolving heat issues. By resolving the heat issues that plague current platforms, advanced AI systems can be implemented, enabling safety and efficiency improvements to a wider range of industrial sectors.
Additionally, the company will also strengthen its human resources to establish a mass production system starting next fiscal year and expand its edge AI business.
SOURCE: PRTimes
