Video News: Toyota plans AI push; Alcoa develops powders for 3D printing; Automaker demand fuels semicons.

Toyota plans to cooperate with MIT and Stanford on artificial intelligent research. The Japanese automaker will invest about $50 million over the next five years to set up a joint research center at each university. The centers will conduct research on object recognition and situational judgment. Alcoa will invest $60 million to expand its 3D printing manufacturing capabilities. The company says that a new facility in Pennsylvania will focus on developing metal powders that can be used in 3D printing. Alcoa’s move targets the aerospace market along with customers from the automotive, medical, building and construction industries. Big demand for electronics in cars drove the auto industry into the third spot among the largest markets for power semiconductors. That’s according to a new report from IHS. Advanced driver assistance systems and infotainment systems were particularly strong. IHS says that premium features are being added to non-luxury models, like the Ford Fusion. Complacency, along with design weaknesses and regulatory lapses, helped cause the 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency recently released a five-volume report and made those findings. Tests to break the foundation piles that support offshore wind turbines show that current construction approaches may be too conservative and that lower costs could be achieved by reducing the amount of steel that’s used. The tests were done by DONG Energy and ESG in two locations in water off the coasts of England and France.