Japan's industry ministry says it will give 72.5 billion yen, or about 470 million dollars, in subsidies to five domestic companies to build supercomputers for artificial intelligence development.

Generative AI that can automatically create text and images is spreading rapidly. But Japan's industry relies heavily on US tech firms for building their supercomputers and other infrastructure.

The ministry announced the subsidies on Friday, describing domestic AI development as crucial for national security.

The government will cover one-third of the cost for major companies and half the cost for smaller firms to build their supercomputers.

IT firm Sakura Internet will receive the largest portion --326 million dollars, followed by KDDI with 66 million dollars. Cloud-service provider Highreso will get 50 million dollars.