OCTOBERASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8In its latest push to compete with startups challenging its core business, Adobe announced on October 10 the release of new image-generation technology that can draw inspiration from an uploaded image and match its style. Image-generation technology from companies such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion has put Adobe's customer base of creative professionals who use its tools such as Photoshop in jeopardy.The company based in San Jose, California, has responded by aggressively developing its own version of the technology and incorporating it into its software programmes. Adobe, which has assured its customers that the images they create will be free of legal challenges, claims that customers have used the tools to create three billion images, one billion of which were created in the last month alone.The "Generative Match" feature will be included in the new generation of tools announced. It will, like Adobe's previous tool, allow users to generate an image from a few words of text. However, users will be able to upload as few as 10 to 20 images to serve as the basis for the generated images.Ely Greenfield, Adobe's chief technology officer for digital media, said the company aims to let big brands upload a handful of photos of a product or character and then use generative technology to automatically make hundreds or thousands of images for various needs like websites, social media campaigns and print advertisements. Coherent, a key supplier of materials used to create chips for the automobile sector in the United States, announced on Oct 10 that Denso and Mitsubishi Electric of Japan will invest $1 billion in the company's silicon carbide division.According to the agreement, Denso and Mitsubishi Electric would each contribute $500 million in exchange for a 12.5% non-controlling stake in Coherent's subsidiary. According to LSEG data, Coherent, which manufactures lasers and switches for circuits, has a market value of $4.69 billion and $4.4 billion in total debt as of fiscal 2023.The investment would alleviate the financial burden for Coherent, which had explored a strategic review of its silicon carbide business in May. The agreement aligns with the company's plans to invest $1 billion over the next ten years to expand its production of silicon carbide wafers, which help boost the range of electric vehicles more than chips made with traditional silicon. Silicon carbide chips are utilised in applications that demand a large amount of power conversion, such as inverters and electric vehicle drivetrains. NEWSROOMADOBE RELEASES IMAGE GENERATION TECH TO COMPETE WITH STARTUPSMITSUBISHI ELECTRIC TO INVEST $1 BILLION IN ITS SUPPLIER COHERENT
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