Twelve companies supported by the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) have received Innovation Awards at the CES Innovation Awards program, a record-breaking number of submissions were received in the 2025 awards program. The honorees include startups from various categories such as artificial intelligence, digital health, and smart cities. Notably, Viva Innovation developed an AI-powered polyp detection solution that received recognition in both the AI and Human Security categories. Other notable companies include Verses, a music-tech startup; ILias AI, which developed a digital sniffer dog drug detection scanner; and Nuvilab, a South Korean startup specializing in AI-driven nutrition care solutions for food services.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/incheon-shines-bright-at-ces-2025-13-innovation-awards-won-by-incheon-startups-302341081.htmlLotte Corporation has outlined plans to expand its business portfolio beyond its core sectors of retail, food, chemical and construction by entering four new areas: contract development and manufacturing organization services through Lotte Biologics, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, battery materials, and the metaverse. The company's chairman, Shin, emphasized the importance of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) to create new business models and reduce costs in its global market strategy for the new year.
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-01-02/business/industry/Shinsegae-Lotte-call-for-continuous-innovation-in-hard-year-for-retail/2213900Google CEO Sundar Pichai has outlined a vision for 2025 that prioritizes innovation and solving real-world problems by returning to its "scrappy" roots, emphasizing speed and resourcefulness. He aims to focus on building new business opportunities with AI as the driving force behind this innovation, highlighting its potential as an engine for growth in the coming year.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ceo-describes-a-2025-beyond-a-search-box/536421/OpenAI plans to restructure its corporate structure by creating a public benefit corporation (PBC) that will allow it to raise more capital and remove restrictions imposed by its current nonprofit parent. The PBC, which will be based in Delaware, will consider both shareholder value and societal interests. OpenAI's existing for-profit arm will become the PBC, while the nonprofit will retain a significant interest in the form of shares determined by independent financial advisers. This move is aimed at attracting more investment to support the development of artificial general intelligence, with OpenAI having recently secured $6.6 billion in funding at a valuation of $157 billion.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40340055/openai-outlines-new-for-profit-structure-to-stay-ahead-in-costly-ai-raceOpenAI is considering a change to its corporate structure, which could impact how it allocates assets between its for-profit and nonprofit arms. The company's existing for-profit arm would become a public benefit corporation (PBC), allowing it to balance profit with social responsibility. This move is part of OpenAI's efforts to attract further investment in the pursuit of artificial general intelligence. As part of this change, the nonprofit will have a significant interest in the PBC through shares determined by independent financial advisers.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/582208-openai-outlines-new-for-profit-structure-in-bid-to-stay-ahead-in-costly-ai-raced-Matrix Inc., a hardware startup based in Santa Clara, California, has introduced its first AI processor, Corsair. Backed by Microsoft and leveraging cutting-edge technology, Corsair eschews traditional GPUs and expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM), delivering significant performance and cost benefits. The Corsair processor is purpose-built to handle demanding AI inference tasks, particularly for generative AI models such as Llama3 8B and Llama3 70B. It achieves 60,000 tokens per second at 1 ms per token in a single server and 30,000 tokens per second at 2 ms per token in a single rack, translating into substantial savings in energy and operational costs compared to traditional GPU-based solutions. Corsair is currently available to early-access customers, with broader availability planned for the second quarter of 2025.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-backed-a-tiny-hardware-startup-that-just-launched-its-first-ai-processor-that-does-inference-without-gpu-or-expensive-hbm-memory-and-a-key-nvidia-partner-is-collaborating-with-itOpenAI plans to restructure as a Delaware-based public benefit corporation (PBC) to balance profit and social good as it develops artificial intelligence. The move is contingent on investors removing a profit cap within two years, with the nonprofit arm having a "significant interest" in the PBC through shares determined by independent financial advisers. This structure aligns OpenAI with rivals such as Anthropic and xAI, which have raised billions in funding using similar structures. However, the plan faces hurdles, including opposition from co-founder Elon Musk, who alleges that OpenAI prioritized profit over public good, and a letter from Meta Platforms urging California's attorney general to block the conversion.
https://channelnewsasia.com/business/openai-outlines-new-profit-structure-bid-stay-ahead-costly-ai-race-4828411A Shanghai-backed investment firm, Fortera Capital, has led a funding round for AI start-up Stepfun, raising hundreds of millions of dollars. The funding was also supported by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings and Qiming Venture Partners, an early investor in several prominent Chinese companies including ByteDance and Xiaomi. Stepfun, founded in April last year, plans to use the funds to develop advanced AI models with multimodal capabilities and complex reasoning, as well as expand its consumer-oriented product portfolio. This investment reflects Shanghai's efforts to support technological innovation in key industries, led by the municipal government.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3292348/shanghai-backed-firm-helps-ai-start-stepfun-raise-hundreds-millions-dollars?module=top_story&pgtype=sectionHyperscale Data has received an investment to support its expansion plans, including infrastructure upgrades for its MI data center to meet growing demands for high-performance computing services in artificial intelligence solutions. The funds will also be used to repay outstanding debt and cover general working capital needs.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/12/26/tmt-newswire/globenewswire/hyperscale-data-completes-50-million-of-the-aggregate-75-million-preferred-equity-investment-from-ault-company/2027535