logo
Spider Deployed for Disaster Relief Efforts

Spider Deployed for Disaster Relief Efforts

Japan Forward27-05-2025
このページを 日本語 で読む
On May 21, the Noto Reconstruction Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) unveiled the "Spider" to the press.
The reconstruction team is now using this specialized type of heavy machinery to rebuild roads in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, following the devastating 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and record-breaking torrential rains.
Equipped with four agile spider-like legs, the machine can navigate sloped terrain. During the demonstration, it climbed over large rocks and even cut and carried fallen trees.
"We aim to make full use of the Spider's superior capabilities to accelerate reconstruction," said Tatsuya Minamitani, Section 3 engineering manager at the Noto Reconstruction office. The Spider climbs over large rocks in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture. The Spider is unveiled to the press in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 21.
According to MLIT, there are around 20 Spiders in Japan. That includes units owned by private companies. Their interchangeable arms allow for various tasks, such as excavation and piling. They also came in handy for clearing tangerine orchards buried by landslides in Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture, after heavy rains hit western Japan in November 2024. The Spider can also transport fallen trees. Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 21.
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
このページを 日本語 で読む
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Britain and ChatGPT maker OpenAI sign new strategic partnership
Britain and ChatGPT maker OpenAI sign new strategic partnership

Globe and Mail

time2 days ago

  • Globe and Mail

Britain and ChatGPT maker OpenAI sign new strategic partnership

Britain and ChatGPT maker OpenAI have signed a new strategic partnership to deepen collaboration on AI security research and explore investing in British AI infrastructure, such as data centres, the government said on Monday. 'AI will be fundamental in driving the change we need to see across the country – whether that's in fixing the NHS (National Health Service), breaking down barriers to opportunity or driving economic growth,' Peter Kyle, secretary of state for technology, said in a statement. 'This can't be achieved without companies like OpenAI, who are driving this revolution forward internationally. This partnership will see more of their work taking place in the UK.' The government has set out plans to invest £1-billion in computing infrastructure for AI development, hoping to increase public compute capacity 20 fold over the next five years. The United States, China and India are emerging as front runners in the race to develop AI, putting pressure on Europe to catch up. Gus Carlson: Can OpenAI really go the way of Apple and capture lightning in a bottle? The partnership with OpenAI, whose tie-up with Microsoft once drew the scrutiny of Britain's competition regulator, will see the company possibly increase the size of its London office, and explore where it can deploy AI in areas such as justice, defence, security and education technology. In the same statement, OpenAI head Sam Altman praised the government for being the first to recognize the technology's potential through its 'AI Opportunities Action Plan' – an initiative by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to turn the U.K. into an artificial intelligence superpower. The Labour government, which has struggled to increase economic growth meaningfully in its first year in power and has since fallen behind in polls, has said that the technology could increase productivity by 1.5 per cent a year, worth an extra £47-billion (about $86.77-billion) annually over a decade.

2 Top AI Stocks to Buy With $1,000
2 Top AI Stocks to Buy With $1,000

Globe and Mail

time2 days ago

  • Globe and Mail

2 Top AI Stocks to Buy With $1,000

Key Points Super Micro Computer is an affordable way to bet on the AI infrastructure opportunity. AMD's diversified business model could boost its stability. 10 stocks we like better than Super Micro Computer › There is a lot you can do with $1,000. But if you want to get a step closer to sustainable wealth, consider putting that money to work in the stock market. The burgeoning generative artificial intelligence (AI) industry gives investors an excellent opportunity to bet on a megatrend that may eventually rival the internet in its impact on global productivity. Let's explore why Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) look like solid long-term bets. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Super Micro Computer Popular consumer-facing AI apps like OpenAI's ChatGPT rely on a vast supply chain of enabling infrastructure. And while chipmakers like Nvidia or AMD produce the graphics processing units (GPUs) needed to train and run these algorithms, Supermicro supplies the computer servers that make these chips usable for the end client. The company's business is booming as demand for AI hardware continues to accelerate. Third-quarter revenue jumped a respectable 20% year over year to $4.6 billion, helped by demand for Nvidia's new Blackwell GPUs and Supermicro's proprietary liquid cooling solutions designed to help clients prevent their massive data centers from overheating. As a middleman in the AI hardware industry, Supermicro doesn't have the strongest economic moat. Its AI servers face stiff competition from foreign rivals in lower-cost nations like Taiwan (Inventec, for example). However, Supermicro's extensive U.S. manufacturing footprint will allow it to benefit from made-in-America policies and incentives, which include tariffs and tax benefits for domestic production under the recently signed spending bill. With a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of just 16, Supermicro shares are remarkably affordable compared to the S&P 500 index average of 24 and alternative AI hardware company Nvidia, which trades for 38 times forward earnings. Advanced Micro Devices Like Supermicro, AMD operates on the hardware side of the AI industry, competing with its main rival, Nvidia, to produce off-the-shelf hardware solutions for training and running AI algorithms. While AMD is in a distant second place (with an estimated market share of just 14.5% in AI chips compared to Nvidia's 85.2%), its more diversified business model could give it protection against a potential AI industry downturn. In some ways, Nvidia has become the victim of its own success. In the first quarter, its data center segment represented a whopping 89% of total revenue, making the company a one-trick pony. On the other hand, AMD gets just half of its sales from its data center segment. And AMD still enjoys a healthy contribution from different business verticals like its client segment (CPUs for laptops) and gaming hardware. That said, AMD's data center segment will be its long-term growth engine as the company competes with its larger rival by offering better value for money. First-quarter revenue jumped 36% year over year to $7.4 billion, driven by sales of its new EPYC CPU and Instinct GPU chips, designed to handle advanced AI workloads. While net income grew 55% year over year to $1.57 billion, the stock is a little pricey with a forward P/E of 39. Which stock is best for you? Supermicro and AMD are both great picks for AI-focused investors seeking alternatives to Nvidia in the hardware side of the industry. But Supermicro looks like the better pick because of its rock-bottom valuation and potential to benefit from the federal protectionist economic policies. While AMD also looks like a winner, it already trades at a significant premium over the alternatives. Should you invest $1,000 in Super Micro Computer right now? Before you buy stock in Super Micro Computer, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Super Micro Computer wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $652,133!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,056,790!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 15, 2025

CoreWeave to Set up New Data Center: Overcapacity or Future-Proofing?
CoreWeave to Set up New Data Center: Overcapacity or Future-Proofing?

Globe and Mail

time5 days ago

  • Globe and Mail

CoreWeave to Set up New Data Center: Overcapacity or Future-Proofing?

CoreWeave, Inc. CRWV is investing $6 billion to build a new state-of-the-art AI data center in Lancaster, PA. The data center, designed for advanced AI workloads, will have an initial capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) and a potential to scale up to 300MW. It is one of the first large-scale AI-focused data centers in the Mid-Atlantic region and aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness in AI. This new facility adds to CoreWeave's growing network of data centers. It has a network of 33 purpose-built AI-data centers across the United States and Europe, supported by 420MW of active power. The Lancaster facility will be adding to the company's 1.6 gigawatt (GW) of contracted power, offering a multiyear runway in power capacity. This infrastructure buildout is underpinned by surging demand for high-performance AI compute. For a hypergrowth company, data-center expansion to support accelerating demand amid intense competition is more of strategic future-proofing than anything else. Hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Corporation MSFT operate hundreds of facilities globally. On the last earnings call, CRWV management highlighted that AI is forecasted to have a global economic impact of $20 trillion by 2030, while the total addressable market is anticipated to increase to $400 billion by 2028. CRWV's strong backlog of $25.9 billion at the end of the last reported quarter underscores its growing market share. CRWV inked a strategic partnership with OpenAI for about $11.9 billion, while adding several new enterprise customers and a hyperscaler client. It has signed expansion agreements with many customers, including a $4 billion (to be included in backlog from second quarter) expansion with a big AI enterprise. Of course, this aggressive expansion comes with risks. Higher capex, subsequent rising interest costs and macro uncertainty could test execution. CRWV expects capex to be between $20 billion and $23 billion for 2025. Nonetheless, CoreWeave's self-amortizing debt structure and strong revenue visibility offer meaningful downside protection. Data Center Footprint for Competitors Microsoft has a vast network of data centers for its Azure platform. It has more than 400 data centers across 70-plus Azure regions. Earlier in January 2025, MSFT announced a $80 billion investment toward the development of AI-enabled data centers globally for fiscal 2025, with more than half of the investment earmarked for the United States. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, the company spent $21.4 billion on capex and $16.7 billion on cash for PP&E. MSFT highlighted that nearly half of the cloud and AI-related spend was on long-lived assets that will support monetization over the next 15 years and more. The remainder focused on servers, both CPUs and GPUs, to fulfill rising AI demand, including a $315 billion customer backlog. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, capex will grow at a slower rate than fiscal 2025, with a higher share of short-lived assets. Nebius Group N.V. NBIS is focusing on building a global footprint, with capacity in the United States, Europe and the Middle East amid accelerating demand for its AI-infrastructure services. In the last reported quarter, Nebius added three new regions, including a strategic data center in Israel. Infrastructure enhancement helps reduce latency, diversify risk and extend support for global customer requirements, which is crucial for enterprise AI workloads. In June 2025, Nebius announced private placement of $1 billion in convertible notes to capitalize on the AI-infrastructure boom and drive-up revenue opportunities in 2026. It has an ambitious $2 billion capital expenditure plan for 2025. NBIS plans to build a data-center infrastructure pipeline that can offer scalability to more than 1GW of power. With this, NBIS expects significantly higher revenue potential beyond its current guidance. CRWV Price Performance and Estimates Shares of CoreWeave have lost 21.9% over the past month against the Internet Software industry's growth of 1.8%. CoreWeave's share price took a hit after it announced the acquisition of Core Scientific on July 7. There is intense investor scrutiny regarding the deal. By taking ownership of Core Scientific's 1.3GW power infrastructure footprint, with an additional 1GW expansion potential, CoreWeave gains ample room to grow its AI infrastructure. With demand for AI compute soaring, this extra capacity provides a strong long-term advantage. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRWV's earnings for 2025 has been unchanged over the past 30 days. CRWV currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see t he complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the months ahead. They include Stock #1: A Disruptive Force with Notable Growth and Resilience Stock #2: Bullish Signs Signaling to Buy the Dip Stock #3: One of the Most Compelling Investments in the Market Stock #4: Leader In a Red-Hot Industry Poised for Growth Stock #5: Modern Omni-Channel Platform Coiled to Spring Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +171%, +209% and +232%. Download Atomic Opportunity: Nuclear Energy's Comeback free today. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store