The afternoon comments reported that Takara Standard would make Sigma Consulting a subsidiary, along with new businesses and partnerships involving several companies including GMO, Hitachi, Aisin and Kyocera.
At 1:00 p.m., Takara Standard announced that it would acquire all shares of Sigma Consulting in stages and make it a subsidiary. Sigma Consulting uses cloud technology and software-development capabilities to provide end-to-end support from planning through operation of new businesses and web services.
At 1:22 p.m., GMO Internet Group announced that it had decided to launch an AI promotion project with Google Cloud. It will combine more than 30 years of infrastructure, security, payments and e-commerce foundations with Google Cloud's AI technology to accelerate AI use across the group.
At 1:39 p.m., Giken announced that it would adopt the Gyropress method for permanent seawall restoration work on the Tsukada River, which flooded during torrential rain in Oku-Noto. Construction will use a steel-pipe-pile rotary cutting and press-in machine and a method requiring no temporary structures, reducing vibration and noise. The method is also increasingly being adopted in restoration projects following the Noto Peninsula Earthquake.
At 1:27 p.m., Hitachi announced that it would join Anthropic's cyber-defence program for critical infrastructure as a founding partner. It aims to strengthen defence using AI models while sharing expertise in the OT field for vulnerability detection and remediation.
At 1:39 p.m., Aisin announced that its proposal had been selected for a distributed carbon-recycling model demonstration project, including local e-methane production and supply, and that it would begin the demonstration. It is expected to handle CO2 separation, capture and liquefaction, as well as e-methane utilization.
At 1:51 p.m., Kyocera announced that it would build a new facility at a domestic plant to recover tungsten carbide from used cutting tools. Operations are scheduled to begin in fiscal 2030, and the facility will use an amino-acid shortening process to improve recovery efficiency. The initiative has been certified as contributing to a stable supply of critical minerals.