Taiwanese AI Startups Enter Japan Opening up a New Economic Route between Taiwan and Japan
AI and chips have become the most sought-after resources globally. The key to survival lies in how to create regional economic cooperation with neighboring areas while jointly defending against cyber fraud, hacker attacks, and warfare threats.
In the past two years, trade interactions between Taiwan and Japan have become increasingly close. The long-standing historical ties between Taiwan and Japan have a profound influence on Taiwanese culture. Due to geographical proximity and similar dietary habits, Taiwanese people enjoy studying and traveling in Japan. Japanese restaurant chain brands have seized the opportunity to expand significantly into Taiwan, achieving impressive performance. In addition to cross-border cooperation in the food and beverage industry, Japan is now moving towards further high-tech industrial exchanges with Taiwan. Taiwanese startups are eyeing entry into Japan, establishing new bases there as a first step into the international market, thereby opening new windows for friendly trade between Taiwan and Japan. At the same time, Japan’s manufacturing industry can collaborate with Taiwanese AI companies to address supply chain and chip shortage issues faced by traditional industries in the post-pandemic era.
Recently, NHK World Japan reported on Taiwanese startups, including Whoscall (Gogolook Inc), TapPay (Cherri Tech, Inc), and Ubestream. The Japan – ****** Innovation Summit 2024, organized by Startup Island ****** and Asia Silicon Valley, in collaboration with the National Development Council and partnered with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, JETRO, and TiB (Tokyo Innovation Base), featured around 70 startups from Taiwan and Japan. Key focuses included AI machine learning, financial applications, and medical technology, with application scenarios covering AI product applications, fraud prevention, military defense, and financial payment applications. Below, I have selected several Taiwanese startups for introduction.
**Japan ****** Innovation Summit 2024 Startup Introductions**
**Ubestream AI Semantic Edge Computing Technology**
Ubestream has developed AI Semantic Edge Computing Technology, embedding lightweight AI semantic chips into low-end, low-power consumer electronics. This approach can replace traditional touch interfaces. Application scenarios include air conditioning, televisions, lighting control, autonomous vehicles, smartphones, headphones, and wearable devices. These devices do not need to connect to cloud systems; instead, they utilize embedded chips to recognize human natural language and employ AI machine learning models to interpret commands, controlling smart spaces and devices in homes and businesses.
**Dentall.ai Dental Record System**
Both dentists and patients dislike spending time discussing dental treatment methods. Dentall’s AI system assists doctors in recording and storing photos and writing medical notes, enabling quick generation of dental positioning images, treatment methods, and medical plans through AI machine learning. This system connects with health insurance systems, simplifying medical processes and communication time.
**Ubitus Generative AI Company**
Ubitus is the first tech company in Taiwan to receive investment from NVIDIA and has developed the AI-generated drawing software UbiArt. It has even obtained permission from the renowned commercial manga creator Kenshi Hirokane to generate images of “Kacho Shima Kosaku” through AI.
**Profet AI Corporate Virtual AI Consultant**
Profet AI (Jaylun Intelligent Technology) began laying out plans for the Japanese market in 2023 and formed alliances with two Japanese distributors, BIPROGY and IT Innovation, Inc., at the beginning of 2024 to assist Japan’s manufacturing industry in digital transformation. Profet AI’s main products are a virtual data scientist and an AI virtual consultant platform aimed at helping enterprises unfamiliar with AI learn about its applications in manufacturing.
**Insto Installment Payment Application**
Insto promotes inclusive economic payment solutions with a mobile app for cash flow collection and installment payments. It won the 2016 Fukuoka Tech Day Pitch Winner award and was selected for the 2023 Google Startup Grind Global Startup Conference, ranking among the top 40 in the Accelerate Global Growth program.
**Gogolook (Whoscall) Anti-fraud App**
Gogolook is a founding member of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA). Its products include Whoscall, Mei Yu Ayi, and Little Bear Calling, which are designed as “trust technology” products specifically for combating fraud and hacking, capable of filtering suspicious calls and blocking unwanted messages and harassment.
**Tron Future Military Defense System**
Tron Future focuses on national military defense systems, with its main products being drone radar equipment and lightweight mobile satellite terminals. The T. Space Router from Tron Future is a lightweight satellite communication terminal with 5G coverage, set to be integrated into Taiwan’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) 5G communication system by the end of 2025. The T. Space Router can detect drones using a satellite backbone infrastructure.
**Cycraft Monitoring Hacker System**
CyCraft Technology, headquartered in Taiwan with subsidiaries in Japan and Singapore, is supported by The CID Group and Pavilion Capital under Temasek Holdings. It provides cybersecurity services to government agencies, police, national defense, banks, and high-tech manufacturing industries in the Asia-Pacific region, and is a member and partner of multiple multinational cybersecurity organizations. CyCraft utilizes AI and machine learning to identify potential cyber attacks, with its main product being the XCockpit automated threat exposure management platform
