
Asahi Kasei's auto chips to slash audio-tuning time by 70%
TOKYO -- Japan's Asahi Kasei will cut the time that automakers need to fine-tune in-vehicle sound systems by 70% using its semiconductor devices.
The company has partnered with Swedish audio technology developer Dirac to make such adjustments as noise reduction easier. Asahi Kasei has an estimated roughly 20% share of the global market for audio-processing semiconductors for vehicles. By partnering with other companies, Asahi Kasei aims to shorten vehicle development times and expand its own sales.

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Japan Today
9 hours ago
- Japan Today
Private Japanese lunar lander heads toward moon touchdown
By MARCIA DUNN A private lunar lander from Japan is closing in on the moon, aiming for a touchdown in the unexplored far north with a mini rover. The moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace on Friday Japan time is the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush. The encore comes two years after the company's first moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander. Resilience holds a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist's toy-size red house that will be lowered onto the moon's dusty surface. Long the province of governments, the moon became a target of private outfits in 2019, with more flops than wins along the way. Launched in January from Florida on a long, roundabout journey, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. It shared a SpaceX ride with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which reached the moon faster and became the first private entity to successfully land there in March. Another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, arrived at the moon a few days after Firefly. But the tall, spindly lander face-planted in a crater near the moon's south pole and was declared dead within hours. Resilience is targeting the top of the moon, a less forbidding place than the shadowy bottom. The ispace team chose a flat area with few boulders in Mare Frigoris or Sea of Cold, a long and narrow region full of craters and ancient lava flows that stretches across the near side's northern tier. Once settled with power and communication flowing, the 2.3-meter Resilience will lower the piggybacking rover onto the lunar surface. Made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic with four wheels, ispace's European-built rover — named Tenacious — sports a high-definition camera to scout out the area and a shovel to scoop up some lunar dirt for NASA. The rover, weighing just five kilograms, will stick close to the lander, going in circles at a speed of less than one inch (a couple centimeters) per second. Besides science and tech experiments, there's an artistic touch. The rover holds a tiny, Swedish-style red cottage with white trim and a green door, dubbed the Moonhouse by creator Mikael Genberg, for placement on the lunar surface. Takeshi Hakamada, CEO and founder of ispace, considers the latest moonshot 'merely a steppingstone,' with its next, much bigger lander launching by 2027 with NASA involvement, and even more to follow. 'We're not trying to corner the market. We're trying to build the market,' Jeremy Fix, chief engineer for ispace's U.S. subsidiary, said at a conference last month. 'It's a huge market, a huge potential." Fix noted that ispace, like other businesses, does not have 'infinite funds' and cannot afford repeated failures. While not divulging the cost of the current mission, company officials said it's less than the first one which exceeded $100 million. Two other U.S. companies are aiming for moon landings by year's end: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology. Astrobotic's first lunar lander missed the moon altogether in 2024 and came crashing back through Earth's atmosphere. For decades, governments competed to get to the moon. Only five countries have pulled off successful robotic lunar landings: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan. Of those, only the U.S. has landed people on the moon: 12 NASA astronauts from 1969 through 1972. NASA expects to send four astronauts around the moon next year. That would be followed a year or more later by the first lunar landing by a crew in more than a half-century, with SpaceX's Starship providing the lift from lunar orbit all the way down to the surface. China also has moon landing plans for its own astronauts by 2030. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Nikkei Asia
20-05-2025
- Nikkei Asia
Japan should think about 'more partners' beyond US: Saab CEO
TOKYO -- Japan should increase defense procurement from European manufacturers, the president and CEO of Swedish defense giant Saab said during an interview with Nikkei in Tokyo. "I think maybe Japan also needs to look and think about having more sovereign capabilities, maybe more partners than only the U.S.," Micael Johansson said. The CEO came to Japan ahead of the annual DSEI Japan international defense exhibition, which will be held in Chiba prefecture from Wednesday to Friday.


Japan Times
19-05-2025
- Japan Times
China slaps anti-dumping duties on plastics from U.S., EU, Japan and Taiwan
China on Sunday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9% on imports of POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from the United States, the European Union, Japan and Taiwan. The Chinese commerce ministry's findings conclude a probe launched in May 2024, shortly after the U.S. sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the ministry has said. Stay updated on the trade wars. Quality journalism is more crucial than ever. Help us get the story right. For a limited time, we're offering a discounted subscription plan. Unlimited access US$30 US$18 /mo FOREVER subscribe NOW In January the ministry said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary anti-dumping measures in the form of a deposit starting from Jan. 24. According to Sunday's announcement, the highest anti-dumping rates of 74.9% were levied on imports from the U.S., while European shipments will face 34.5% duties. China slapped 35.5% duties on Japanese imports, except for Asahi Kasei, which received a company-specific rate of 24.5%. General duties of 32.6% were placed on imports from Taiwan, while Formosa Plastics received a 4% tariff and Polyplastics Taiwan 3.8%. Hopes have risen that the U.S.-China trade war is easing after the two sides said on May 12 they had agreed to slash reciprocal tariffs in a 90-day truce, a deal that state mouthpiece the Global Times said on Friday should be extended. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group of nations warned of "fundamental challenges" facing the global trading system in a communique on Friday after a meeting in South Korea.