Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, or LSTC, whose members include chipmaker Rapidus Corp., and other entities said Tuesday that they will jointly develop an artificial intelligence-based medical image-processing system. The project members, also including Hokkaido University and Fujifilm Corp., aim to realize real-time image processing required at medical sites with the use of advanced semiconductors while reducing power consumption. Fujifilm will mainly work on developing AI used for imaging tests and ultrasound examinations at medical institutions. Hokkaido University is in charge of AI design and evaluation. The LSTC will design semiconductors needed for the project. The system is expected to use semiconductors with a circuit line width of 2 nanometers from Rapidus, which aims to mass-produce the cutting-edge chips. Such semiconductors would enable image-processing speeds more than five times faster than conventional graphics processing units, while boasting over 10 times the energy efficiency. “We want to make use of cutting-edge semiconductors to develop technologies that are helpful at medical sites,” LSTC Chairman Tetsuro Higashi, also chairman of Rapidus, said at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
