ASK Corporation Signs Distributor Agreement with MetAI LLC

ASK Corporation (hereinafter, ASK) has entered into a distributor agreement with MetAI LLC (hereinafter, MetAI) and will begin handling generative AI, 3D, and educational AI-related products and solutions provided by MetAI. Through this partnership, ASK will strengthen its proposals for software, licenses, and implementation support services that are highly compatible with its visualization product lineup, expanding solution offerings for enterprises, educational institutions, and the public sector.

MetAI provides educational platforms, enterprise solutions, and implementation support in the AI and metaverse domains, broadly supporting AI utilization for individuals, educational institutions, and general enterprises. ASK, as a distributor of visualization-related products, has been continuously expanding its sales activities, and this initiative is positioned as part of that policy.

Background of the Partnership

In recent years, the application areas of generative AI have rapidly expanded into advertising and video production, manufacturing promotion and design, architectural visualization, educational DX, and advanced customer engagement. However, to utilize AI in actual business operations, comprehensive proposals that include not only hardware environments capable of leveraging high-performance GPUs but also practical software, implementation support, and operational design are required.

In this context, ASK will leverage its proposal capabilities and sales network cultivated in the workstation domain, while MetAI will provide its technological expertise and solution development capabilities in generative AI, 3D, and educational AI fields, thereby building a system to support more practical AI implementation. The two companies will not limit themselves to a mere sales agency relationship but will also consider joint development of AI-related solutions to meet market needs.

MetAI's Main Products and Solutions

MetAI's main products and solutions include generative AI content creation solutions such as AI image generation, AI 3D generation, AI video generation, video completion and upscaling, and VFX support. Additionally, they offer 3D/XR/metaverse-related solutions utilizing 3D/4D Gaussian Splatting, an AI utilization support service for education called "Manabi AI," and API integration and custom AI development using open-source and proprietary models.

These solutions enable companies to address a wide range of themes, including streamlining content production, generating high-quality visuals, utilizing AI in educational settings, and implementing generative AI functions into existing services. For example, they can support everything from planning to implementation through functions such as generating 3D models from a single image and outputting them in various formats, video generation and upscaling, AI education support, and API integration support.

ASK's customers span a wide range of fields, including advertising and video production, game development, manufacturing promotion and design, architecture/AEC, real estate, distribution and retail, tourism, educational institutions and local governments, SaaS/web service companies, and IP holders. Specific use cases include product CG and promotional videos, virtual showrooms, completed perspective renderings and 3D property tours, mass generation of product images and video ads, virtual stores, generative AI training environments and AI training for faculty, corporate reskilling, embedding generative AI functions into services, and building production infrastructure for multi-expansion of IP content.

Regarding the signing of this distributor agreement, David Rozano Lopez, Representative of MetAI LLC, stated, "We are very pleased to be able to deliver our solutions to more companies, educational institutions, and public sector customers through this partnership with ASK. MetAI will leverage its expertise in generative AI, 3D, educational AI, and the metaverse to further accelerate the implementation of AI utilization in the Japanese market together with ASK." Additionally, Ryuji Tagawa, Director and General Manager of the Sales Division at ASK Corporation, commented, "The need for generative AI adoption is increasing across a wide range of fields, including creative production, design and development, education, and human resource development. By combining the proposal capabilities for visualization products that ASK has cultivated with MetAI's advanced generative AI, 3D, and educational AI solutions, we will support AI utilization that is directly linked to our customers' actual work."

Target Market

The primary target markets envisioned by both companies are manufacturing, AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction), media and entertainment, and educational institutions and the public sector. In these areas, combining high-performance GPUs with AI solutions is expected to reduce production man-hours, improve operational efficiency, enhance expressiveness, and create new customer experiences.

In particular, since ASK already has a customer base with workstation needs, it can combine visualization products with MetAI's solutions to provide consistent proposals from PoC (Proof of Concept) to full-scale implementation.

For more details, please visit the inquiry page.

MetAI LLC Overview
MetAI is a generative AI and metaverse specialist startup founded in July 2023, with strengths in multimodal generative AI technology centered on images, videos, and 3D, as well as educational platforms. For enterprises and educational institutions, it comprehensively supports the streamlining of content production, enhancement of expressiveness, AI human resource development, and sophistication of IP businesses by combining AI image/3D/video generation engines, AI virtual humans and metaverse space construction, "Manabi AI" for education, and API/custom model provision.
URL: https://www.met-ai.tech

ASK Corporation Overview
ASK Corporation is a general trading company that provides solutions and services according to purpose. It introduces and provides cutting-edge and unique products mainly from the United States, Europe, Taiwan, and South Korea. Its product lineup is diverse, including computer peripherals, mobile phone peripherals, server and storage-related equipment, and professional video equipment. It serves as a distributor for numerous overseas manufacturers including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), ASUSTeK Computer, ASRock, ATTO Technology, AVerMedia, CORSAIR, Cooler Master, ELSA JAPAN, Micro-Star International (MSI), NVIDIA, Synology, SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY, Supermicro, Tripp Lite (formerly Keyspan), Thermaltake, Vizrt, and ZOTAC Technology Limited.
URL: https://www.ask-corp.jp/

Contact for this News Release
ASK Corporation, Contact: Mitsunori Kannou
TEL: 03-5215-5653, FAX: 03-5215-5651
Address: 4th Floor, CIRCLES+ Ichigaya Ekimae, 4-8-19 Kudan Minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0074
Web inquiries: https://www.ask-corp.jp/inquiry/
ASK Corporation Web URL: https://