New Mexico State University, Japanese tech firm create new ‘innovation hub’ to test AI
The New Mexico State University campus is in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on June 26, 2011.
The university is partnering with a Japanese tech company to the create a testing ground for the company’s latest AI and other advanced technologies.
This story was originally published by Source New Mexico.
The president of New Mexico State University and a prominent Japanese tech company signed an agreement Monday enabling the creation of a testing ground for the company’s latest technologies at the university.
The signing ceremony in Santa Fe marked the second New Mexico appearance Monday for Shigeo Yamada, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, alongside Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The first, a news conference at the Roundhouse, announced a new push for natural gas exports from Rocky Mountain states like New Mexico to Japan and other Asian countries.
Fujitsu describes itself as the biggest digital services company by market share in Japan and a leading innovator on artificial intelligence and supercomputer technologies. It also markets its innovations in “edge” computing, which enables faster computing time.
The company also works on so-called “edge” computing tech, which is commonly used in autonomous vehicles to enable split-second computations within each car.
All of those cutting-edge technologies will be battle-tested at NMSU beginning early next year, thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed by NMSU President Valerio Ferme and Naoki Shinjo, Fujitsu’s head of advanced technology development.
“But technology alone is not the story,” Ferme said Monday at the signing ceremony. “The real story is what this partnership makes possible: new opportunities for our students to work on global problems; new pathways for small and rural communities to access advanced computing resources; and new solutions for sectors that are critical like energy, water security and health.”
NMSU could potentially field test Fujitsu’s tech on agriculture, water monitoring and aerospace, among other areas, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“We look forward to continuing this collaboration, fostering together the technological and economic advancement on a global scale for many years to come,” Shinjo said in a statement.
The agreement will last at least until 2029, according to the memorandum, which the governor’s office provided to Source New Mexico.
In the document, NMSU agrees to establish an “innovation hub with reliable power and cooling infrastructure,” as well as procure servers with “diverse computational needs.” Fujitsu agrees to deploy its tech and hardware and provide ongoing support.
The first tests of the company’s “leading-edge” processor technology, known as MONAKA, will begin in 2027, before it fully deploys its products there in 2028, according to the agreement.
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.