[neptunespear]

This would be true if Japanese companies were eager to embrace the open software revolution. However, even as companies in the U.S. and Europe democratize AI, Japanese companies have stubbornly plodded along with closed-off, proprietary standards just like in the 70s and 80s. Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony, KDDI, and so on. There needs to be a cultural shift.

[icanhackit]

Whether a Japanese company is closed off software-wise or not doesn't make a difference in terms of hardware profitability. Sony's camera sensor business is doing particularly well due to their sensors being in almost every flagship smart phone. They might not play a part in the software used by the owner of the phone - but I'd say competing against Google in the software space when their product is free might not be a winning strategy.