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AI News Flash: The Japanese government unveiled its growth strategy roadmap on Friday, planning to invest a total of 10.5 trillion yen (approximately $65.1 billion) in Physical AI by fiscal year 2040, spanning 17 government-designated strategic priority sectors led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet. Physical AI refers to integrating AI technologies into robotics, factory automation, and infrastructure management—distinguishing it from pure software or cloud-based AI services.

AI news flash: Alibaba’s AI video startup PixVerse announces securing licensing for Japanese classic soccer manga and anime Captain Tsubasa, officially introducing series characters to the platform, allowing users to generate AI videos featuring the IP. This timing aligns perfectly with FIFA World Cup hype, targeting global soccer fans’ strong demand. Captain Tsubasa has been serialized since 1981, with over 90 million copies sold globally…

Greenpeace East Asia’s International Communications Officer Xue Yujie warns in Nikkei Asia that the AI boom is driving massive surges in chip manufacturing and data center power consumption, quietly reopening the door to fossil fuels across East Asia. The piece uses Taiwan’s CPC Talin Refinery in Kaohsiung as a microcosm showing how nations are reverting to coal and gas to meet AI infrastructure demands, derailing the renewable energy transition.

AI News: China’s annual 618 shopping festival has faded amid a weak consumer environment, with Alibaba Group actively using AI technology to boost buying sentiment. Amid a weakening economy and tightening consumer wallets, Alibaba launched AI features like automatic price comparison search, aiming to attract users with more precise discount recommendations. Related advertisements have appeared in Hangzhou’s major subway stations, showing Alibaba is ramping up efforts for this year’s 618 event.

AI News Flash: The Japanese government unveiled an AI policy draft on Thursday, declaring it will ‘actively and continuously’ revise relevant laws to strengthen response capabilities against threats posed by high-performance AI models. The draft’s core concern targets ultra-high-performance models like Anthropic’s Claude Mythos - if such models enter general public release, they could have far-reaching impacts on the security environment. The draft emphasizes that Japan needs to significantly compress the regulatory response time lag.

AI News Flash: Hitachi Energy announces plan to acquire Canadian transformer materials and parts supplier Canduct, with the core goal of strengthening its North American local production capacity. The direct backdrop to this acquisition is the surge in data center construction across North America driving significant increases in grid infrastructure demand, particularly high-voltage transformer materials have become a bottleneck in the industry — companies without local supply chain support will struggle to respond quickly to market demand.

AI News Flash: OpenAI is set to officially launch ChatGPT advertising service in the Japanese market, with ads dynamically displayed based on user interest preferences during AI conversations. Ad suppliers include subsidiaries of Dentsu and Hakuhodo, providing ad placement resources for the generative AI giant. This launch represents a major pivot in OpenAI’s monetization strategy…

AI News Flash: This issue of techAsia comes from our Tokyo correspondent Kenji, covering sports, geopolitics, and tech security. The 2026 FIFA World Cup just opened last weekend, with Japan’s team equalizing twice against the Netherlands in their opening match, ending in a draw—a rare peace喘息 in a world full of conflict. On the geopolitical front, the US and Iran have reportedly signed some form of ceasefire agreement, but Washington hasn’t made the terms public yet…

AI News Flash: U.S. chip designer Marvell is actively deepening its partnership with TSMC, betting on the strong demand for high-speed interconnect chips in AI data centers to drive the company’s next growth phase. Marvell President Chris Koopmans revealed that the company has already initiated preliminary discussions with TSMC regarding the adoption of its next-generation A14 process technology (1.4nm node), planning to apply it to Marve…

AI news flash: South Korea’s stock market shows notable movement, KOSPI surges past 8,800 points, sparking debate over whether this rally is AI-driven growth or asset bubble. According to author William Pesek, South Korea’s stock performance, export structure, and national strategy are increasingly betting on a single tech track: artificial intelligence. This concentrated national bet brings dual effects…