OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence startup, announced the opening of its first Asia office in Tokyo, Japan. The company, known for its ChatGPT generative AI chatbot, is seeking to expand its global revenue sources. CEO Sam Altman and COO Brad Lightcap have been meeting with executives from Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Britain to attract new business opportunities.
Altman had expressed interest in establishing a presence in Japan after a meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. OpenAI has already opened offices in London and Dublin. With Japan looking to leverage AI technology to compete with China, boost digital services, and address labor shortages, OpenAI sees potential in the Japanese market. The company has a custom model optimized for the Japanese language, and Tadao Nagasaki, former president of Amazon Web Services in Japan, is leading the Japan business.
Despite Japan being viewed as a technology laggard, local companies like SoftBank and NTT are investing in large language models. Additionally, Microsoft recently announced a $2.9 billion investment over two years in cloud and AI infrastructure in Japan. This aligns with a trend of major U.S. tech companies increasingly focusing on investments in global markets.