Preferred Networks Explained

Preferred Networks Inc.
Native Name:	株式会社Preferred Networks
Type:	Private limited company
Traded As:	Unlisted
Industry:	Artificial intelligence
Location:	1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan
Key People:	Toru Nishikawa (CEO) Daisuke Okanohara (COO)
Products:	AI research, development, and commercialization for physical-world problems
Revenue:	¥8,486 million (As of January 31, 2021)
Operating Income:	▲¥1,013 million (As of January 31, 2021)
Net Income:	▲¥1,218 million (As of January 31, 2021)
Assets:	¥25,758 million (As of January 31, 2021)
Equity:	¥17,242 million (As of January 31, 2021)

Preferred Infrastructure, Inc.
Native Name:	株式会社Preferred Infrastructure
Type:	Private limited company
Traded As:	Unlisted
Industry:	Information technology
Location:	1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan
Key People:	Toru Nishikawa

Preferred Networks Inc. is a Japanese startup focused on the research and development of deep learning for IoT applications. The company was spun off from Preferred Infrastructure (PFI), founded by Toru Nishikawa, Daisuke Okanohara, and others on March 26, 2014.

Overview

The company advocates for "Edge Heavy Computing," which involves the distributed, collaborative processing of massive data generated by devices at the edge of the network. It aims to achieve innovation in various fields, focusing on three major business areas: transportation systems, manufacturing, and bio-healthcare. Through the development of the open-source deep learning framework Chainer (development ceased in December 2019), it promotes advanced initiatives in collaboration with organizations such as Toyota Motor Corporation, FANUC, and National Cancer Center Japan.

History

Preferred Infrastructure

• March 2006: During their studies at University of Tokyo, ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Japan representatives Toru Nishikawa (CEO), Kazuki Ota (CTO, later founded Treasure Data in 2011), Daisuke Okanohara, and Jiro Nishitoba (founded Retrieva in 2016) along with other students established Preferred Infrastructure (PFI) with the aim of developing natural language processing and search engines.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}
• January 15, 2008: Changed from a limited company to a joint-stock company.^[5]
• July 15, 2008: Provided a related entry display feature for Hatena Co., Ltd.'s Hatena Bookmark.^[6]
• June 21, 2010: Library information service Webcat Plus adopted Sedue.^[7]
• October 31, 2016: Transferred the business of the integrated search platform Sedue, which was a product of Preferred Infrastructure, to Retrieva Co., Ltd., which was established by the employees of Preferred Infrastructure.^[8]

Although it is not currently in operation, the following products were available around 2008:^[9]

• Sedue, a large-scale search engine
• Reflexa, an associative search engine
• Viim, a classification-based image search engine
• Hotate, a related article recommendation engine

Preferred Networks

• March 26, 2014: Established Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN) with Toru Nishikawa taking office as the representative director.^[10]
• October 1, 2014: Initiated joint research with Toyota.^[11]
• October 1, 2014: Concluded a capital and business alliance contract with NTT, receiving a 200 million yen investment.^[12]
• June 9, 2015: Released the open source deep learning framework Chainer.^[13]
• June 11, 2015: Formed a business partnership with Panasonic and FANUC.^{[14] [15]}
• August 21, 2015: Received a 900 million yen investment from FANUC Corporation, with the valuation at 15 billion yen.^[16]
• September 18, 2015: Technological alliance with NVIDIA.^[17]
• December 30, 2015: Received a 900 million yen investment from Toyota.^[18]
• July 2016: Merged with DeNA to form a new company.
• July 2016: Selected as an innovative start-up from Japan at the 2016 US-Japan Innovation Awards.
• October 2016: Established the PFN Cancer Research Institute (PCRI).
• November 2016: Announced business alliance with SCSK and the Asian Frontier Group.
• November 2016: Began an integrated cancer care system development project utilizing artificial intelligence (AI).
• February 2017: Won the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award (Venture & Large Corporation Collaboration Award) at the 3rd Japan Venture Awards.^[19]
• April 2017: Cooperated with Intel in the development of the deep learning open source framework Chainer.
• May 2017: Established a strategic cooperation in the field of deep learning solutions with Microsoft.
• May 2017: Collaborated with the drawing communication app "pixiv Sketch" and the line drawing automatic coloring service "PaintsChainer".
• July 2017: Won the "Emerging Leader Award" at the 2017 Japan-U.S. Innovation Awards.
• August 2017: Raised about 10.5 billion yen from Toyota to accelerate the joint research and development of AI technology in the mobility field.^[20]
• December 2017: Raised over 2 billion yen in total from FANUC, Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Hitachi, Mizuho Bank, and Mitsui & Co.^[21]
• January 2018: Agreed to establish a joint venture company for the development of intelligent edge systems.
• August 2018: Raised about 700 million yen from Chugai Pharmaceutical and about 200 million yen from Tokyo Electron.^[22]
• December 12, 2018: Announced the development of a dedicated accelerator MN-Core and a supercomputer MN-3 that utilizes it at SEMICON Japan 2018.^[23]
• July 2019: Raised about 1 billion yen from JXTG Holdings (now Eneos Holdings).^[24] The valuation was 3,516,745,800 yen.^{[25] [26]} The total amount raised is 16.88 billion yen.
• December 5, 2019: Announced the end of development of the open source deep learning framework Chainer and transition to PyTorch.^[27]
• June 23, 2020: The supercomputer MN-3 equipped with the deep learning dedicated accelerator MN-Core achieved first place in the Green500.^[28]

Preferred Robotics

• November 1, 2021: Established Preferred Robotics, a subsidiary of Preferred Networks, and Preferred Robotics raised 2 billion yen from Amano Corporation.^[29]
• March 18, 2022: Preferred Robotics raised 300 million yen from Asahi Kasei and 300 million yen from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.^[30]
• September 20, 2022: Preferred Robotics co-developed the autonomous small floor cleaning robot HAPiiBOT (HapiiBot), which uses AI technology, with Amano Corporation.^[31]

Preferred Computational Chemistry

• June 1, 2021: Established Preferred Computational Chemistry as a joint venture of Preferred Networks and ENEOS Corporation. The investment ratio is PFN 51%, ENEOS 49%.^[32]
• July 6, 2021: The general-purpose atomistic simulator Matlantis, which approximates density functional theory (DFT) simulations using a graph neural network, is launched in Japan. Capable of simulating 72 elements, handling up to 20,000 atoms a time, and executing calculations up to 20 million times faster than DFT, Matlantis is rapidly adopted by dozens of major Japanese corporations.^{[32] [33]}
• May 2023: Preferred Computational Chemistry, in partnership with professors at MIT, launch an English-version of Matlantis in the United States.^[33]

Notes and References

1. https://atmarkit.itmedia.co.jp/news/200803/24/pfi.html Googleレベルの学生が起業した「Preferred Infrastructure」 － ＠IT
2. https://www.slideshare.net/pfi/pfi PFI会社案内
3. https://startup-db.com/officers/vrea9pvTeRWmbZRX 西鳥羽二郎｜STARTUP DB（スタートアップデータベース）
4. https://gihyo.jp/news/interview/2022/01/2101 エンジニアには戻らない ―Treasure Data CEOとして太田一樹が挑む"目線を上げる経営"：インタビュー｜gihyo.jp … 技術評論社
5. https://web.archive.org/web/20080720142725/http://preferred.jp/index.html 社名変更のお知らせ
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20080720142725/http://preferred.jp/index.html プリファードインフラストラクチャーとはてな、戦略的提携に合意
7. https://web.archive.org/web/20100728074652/http://preferred.jp/2010/06/seduewebcat-plus.html 統合情報検索プラットフォーム「Sedue」を国内最大級図書情報サービスWebcat Plusに導入
8. https://retrieva.jp/news/date_201610311730/ Preferred Infrastructure社からの事業取得のお知らせ｜ニュース - 株式会社レトリバ
9. https://web.archive.org/web/20080720142725/http://preferred.jp/index.html 株式会社プリファードインフラストラクチャー
10. https://preferred.jp/news/3082/
11. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/6271/ トヨタ自動車と共同研究を開始 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
12. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/6431/ NTTと資本・業務提携契約を締結 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
13. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/8531/ オープンソース深層学習フレームワークのChainerをリリースしました - 株式会社Preferred Networks
14. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/8681/ パナソニック株式会社との事業提携についてのお知らせ - 株式会社Preferred Networks
15. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/8731/ ファナック株式会社との提携についてのお知らせ - 株式会社Preferred Networks
16. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/9987/ ファナック株式会社および株式会社Preferred Networksの資本提携に関するお知らせ - 株式会社Preferred Networks
17. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/10091/ NVIDIAおよびPREFERRED NETWORKSの技術提携に関するお知らせ - 株式会社Preferred Networks
18. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/10145/ トヨタ自動車からの出資引受に関するお知らせ - 株式会社Preferred Networks
19. http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2016/02/20170220006/20170220006.html
20. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20170804/ Preferred Networks、トヨタ自動車から約105億円の資金調達 モビリティ分野でAI技術の共同研究・開発を加速 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
21. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20171211/ ファナック、博報堂DYHD、日立製作所、みずほ銀行、三井物産から合計で20億円超の資金調達を実施 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
22. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20181726/ 中外製薬、東京エレクトロンから合計で約９億円の資金調達を実施 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
23. https://preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20181212/ 深層学習に特化した ディープラーニング・プロセッサー MN-Coreを発表。2020年春、MN-Coreによる大規模クラスターMN-3を稼働予定 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
24. https://preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20190625/ JXTGホールディングスから約10億円の資金調達を実施 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
25. https://initial.inc/companies/A-15875 株式会社Preferred Networks - INITIAL
26. https://www.forstartups.com/news/market-capitalization-ranking-201909 「STARTUP DB」調査結果　国内スタートアップ時価総額ランキング　想定時価総額トップは、Preferred Networksで3516億円｜News｜フォースタートアップス株式会社
27. https://preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20191205/ Preferred Networks、深層学習の研究開発基盤をPyTorchに移行 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
28. https://preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20200623/ Preferred Networksの深層学習用スーパーコンピュータMN-3がスーパーコンピュータ省電力性能ランキングGreen500で世界1位を獲得 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
29. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20211126/ 自律移動ロボットの子会社Preferred Roboticsを設立 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
30. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20220322/ Preferred Robotics、旭化成ホームズと三井住友銀行から合計で約6億円の資金調達を実施 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
31. https://www.pfrobotics.jp/news/AX028mLu アマノとPreferred Robotics、AI技術で自律移動する小型床洗浄ロボット「HAPiiBOT」を共同開発 - 株式会社Preferred Robotics
32. https://www.preferred.jp/ja/news/pr20210706/ PFCC、新物質開発や材料探索を高速化する 汎用原子レベルシミュレータMatlantisをクラウドサービスとして提供開始 - 株式会社Preferred Networks
33. Web site: Launch of Matlantis High-Speed Universal Atomistic Simulator for AI-Driven Materials Discovery in US . April 28, 2023 . Nanotechnology World Association.