Nikon Sees AI Expanding the 'Possibility of Humanity'

I joined Nikon four years ago and I made some initiatives. For instance, we shifted the business model from the finished product that centrally controlled more to contribute to your customers. And we want to grow together with the customers. So we'll be providing components and parts. And so for us.

So AI is of course a big thing. I think we provide or will expand the possibility of humanity. I think so in that we utilize our AI in a variety of products. For instance, in the digital camera, now our AI helps users take the ideal photos, and also in biological microscopes, our AI is assisting in the development of new drugs to treat cancer or other intractable diseases. And so for us, I think AI will contribute our technologies.

All right. So we designed a ¥100 billion investment in order to enhance our ability to produce optics. Optics is key, we are using tiny, tiny ranges for microscopes, and also we are big over certain meters. The big ranges for satellites and so forth. So we are very proud of our technologies in optics and precision.

Yeah, I used to not dinner brunch actually. Got it. So I missed a chance to hear the voice of Paul Simon's? Because I was invited to lunch hosted by Mr. Blinken and Kamala Harris, vice president, for brunch when Prime Minister Kishida visited in April. The thing is, oh, I have been by that. Truly then, I think one is that we are jointly developing a new digital camera usable on the lunar surface, I mean the moon, so a Z9. So our camera is now being modified to take pictures on the moon. So we are very proud of that. I mean, now NASA chose Nikon as a partner, that's one thing I know. And so my next, on the table, my next is dear Mr. Bill, Bill, who is the administrator of NASA. And then left left hand side is the semiconductors and Morpheus. So our major customer is Intel. So we are providing the lithography equipment to Intel. So we are really proud of that.

It's a great question. So we always have to be mindful of geopolitical issues. That is a risk, of course. But the chips definitely need, I mean that would help human beings' lives for the coming digitalized society. So I said chips are key devices. So every single equipment is key. Under that, we are trying to expand our business within a rule, and that rule of course includes export demand to China. So we are frequently consulting with the Japanese government and even the US government when it comes to exports because of the cheap Japanese yen.

The weak yen is positive for our business performance because approximately 80% of our sales are overseas. Having said that, in the longer perspective, the continuous depreciation of the yen despite the narrowing interest rate gap between the US and Japan may indicate some disruption or critical change, i.e., a weakening Japanese economy itself. If that is the case, a weakening of our mother country is not a good thing. So I think the only way to deal with that is for Japanese companies, including Nikon, to try to improve our corporate volume, and as a result, elevate the strength of the Japanese economy as a whole when it comes to elevating your value.

So my assignment is that I need to ask for patience from the investors while I'm tackling with my juniors or colleagues to make the product faster than the plan. So the refocus will lead to long-term growth.

We are betting on many things. Of course, the camera is one thing that we are trying to expand the customer base and surprisingly, a younger generation tend to start their shooting with cameras. They are hobby people, right? Right, exactly. Exactly. So everybody thought that the smartphone may kill digital camera, but that essentially is not the case out of the talent. We are trying to interlink into digital manufacturing, including better 3D printers. Right. So many in defense and other space industry in the United States shows interest. So that's why we established a headquarters of that business in California for obvious reasons.