ITOCHU : Announces a Capital and Business Alliance with GRID Inc., an AI tech solution company
April 10, 2017 at 11:00 pm EDT
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ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter 'ITOCHU') announced today that it has agreed to conclude a capital and business alliance with GRID Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Hideki Nakamura, President; hereinafter 'GRID') regarding ITOCHU's acquisition of an equity stake in GRID through a third-party allocation of shares and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to provide solutions to the ITOCHU Group and its customers.
GRID develops and provides ∞ReNom*, the software framework of machine learning and deep learning. ReNom is versatile software for developing AI, strongly supports developers to solve wide range of challenges both socially and practically. It provides solutions to the issues such as prediction of power consumption, anomaly detection. Since variety of practical algorithms and utilities provided as components, it reduces the development period by more than 40% compared to individual development. ITOCHU has decided to conclude the capital and business alliance with the aim of working together with GRID to develop this business further.
Moving forward, ITOCHU will utilize ReNom, the machine learning framework provided by GRID, to develop services with the company in areas such as manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and ICT, both in Japan and overseas. ITOCHU also plans to introduce AI to improve efficiency and upgrade operations in the ITOCHU Group, including human resources and financial affairs.
ITOCHU has been proactive in seeking venture investment in Japan and overseas and positions AI as an area of focus. ITOCHU will continue to harness technology to expand the operation of new AI services.
*ReNom, a machine learning framework
ReNom is the machine learning/deep learning framework developed in house by GRID. There is no complex setup required, and it features an array of highly practical algorithms as software library, covering from the deep learning to optimization, and generative model. By combining framework objects like a plastic bricks, developers can develop AI applications easier and faster, even by non-specialists.
Overview of Grid Inc.
Company Name
Grid Inc.
Location
Floor 6, AO Bldg., 3-11-17 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative
Hideki Nakamura
Businesses
- Development, manufacture, and sale of solar power generation systems
- Research, development and sale of AI technologies and provision of relevant solutions, and others
Itochu Corporation published this content on 10 April 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 April 2017 03:00:05 UTC.
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Itochu Corporation is a diversified group organized around 8 areas of activity:
- distribution of food products (34.9% of net sales): frozen food, vegetable oil, sweeteners, sugars, etc.;
- distribution of hydrocarbons (23.3%): hydrocarbons (natural gas, oil products, bioethanol, etc.). The group also develops manufacturing of chemical products activity;
- manufacturing and sale of industrial and construction machines, vehicles and ships (9.7%);
- production of metals and coal (8.5%);
- sale of consumer products (8.4%). The group also develops forest products sale and real estate development activities;
- distribution of computing and telecommunication equipments (7%): data transmission, Internet access, media content broadcasting and mobile telephony equipments. The group also offers financial services;
- sale of textile products (3.6%);
- other (4.6%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (79.5%), Singapore (5.4%), the United States (4.5%), Australia (3.1%), China (2.8%) and other (4.7%).
ITOCHU CORPORATION 
