We are proud to share that Takuto Ando, a master’s student (M1) at the Computing Architecture Lab, has received the IEEE CEDA All Japan Joint Chapter SASIMI Young Researcher Award at the 26th SASIMI 2025 international workshop, held in Nara, Japan, on October 9–10, 2025.
The Workshop on Synthesis and System Integration of Mixed Information technologies (SASIMI) is an international forum for industry–academia exchange in system design, semiconductor design automation (EDA), and design methodologies. The Young Researcher Award honors outstanding poster presentations by researchers under 35.
Mr. Ando’s presentation, titled “A Detailed Analysis of LLM Execution on IMAX3 and Initial Evaluation of IMAX4 Prototype for Server Environment,” was highly acclaimed. His research proposes the IMAX4 prototype, an advanced accelerator based on the power-efficient CGLA architecture, achieving significant reductions in host-side processing load for large language model (LLM) tasks such as LLaMA3 8B.
This recognition underscores the strength of LENZO’s ongoing collaboration with academic partners in advancing next-generation computing architectures.
Funding will be used to strengthen R&D Capabilities for Next-Generation AI and Blockchain Semiconductor Development
LENZO, building sustainable AI & Crypto mining hardware designed in Japan, today announced the successful completion of its pre-seed funding round.
The round includes investments from several notable individuals backing the company’s vision - such as Oki Matsumoto, Founder and Chairman of Monex Group, and Takuya Hirose, former CFO of Remixpoint each commenting:
“As the rapid expansion of generative AI accelerates competition in algorithms, a new frontier is emerging in the optimization of computational circuits and energy efficiency. We hold great expectations that Japan-based LENZO will drive a game-changing breakthrough with its innovative semiconductors and establish a strong presence on the global stage.” - said Oki Matsumoto, Founder & Chairman, Monex Group
“LENZO’s core technology, CGLA, is an advanced innovation with the potential to address one of the most pressing challenges in cryptocurrency mining—energy consumption. Just as the PlayStation once transformed the gaming industry with its proprietary semiconductors, we have great expectations that Japan-born LENZO will revolutionize the computational foundation of blockchain and evolve into a world-leading AI semiconductor company.” said Takuya Hirose, Former CFO, Remixpoint.
LENZO was founded by engineers with experience developing the CPU and GPU for the PlayStation 2 and 3, as well as processors for Fujitsu’s supercomputers. LENZO is a next-generation semiconductor company pushing the boundaries of chip architecture.
The company is developing an innovative new processor based on CGLA (Coarse-Grained Linear Array), a non-Von Neumann architecture designed to vastly outperform conventional GPUs and ASICs in token-intensive workloads, such as generative AI inference (LLMs) and blockchain Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining.
With this funding, LENZO will accelerate its research and development initiatives through:
Expanded joint research with Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Nakashima Lab
Development of a dedicated ASIC prototyping environment
Recruitment and expansion of its core engineering team
Laying the groundwork for global market expansion
“This funding enables us to accelerate development of a revolutionary semiconductor that bridges AI and blockchain. We are committed to building globally competitive technology and delivering Japan-born semiconductor innovation to the world.” said Kenshin Fujiwara, LENZO’s CEO.
About LENZO
LENZO builds ultra-efficient hardware designed for modern parallel workloads — from blockchain to AI inference. Its proprietary CGLA architecture delivers breakthrough performance per watt in a compact, cost-effective form.
Company Name: LENZO Inc.
Headquarters: 8916-5 Takayamacho, Ikoma-shi, Nara, Japan
CEO: Kenshin Fujiwara
Business: Research, development, and sales of next-generation semiconductor chips
従来のVon Neumann型アーキテクチャを超える新しい半導体設計「CGLA（Coarse-Grained Linear Array）」に基づく次世代AI・ブロックチェーン半導体の研究開発を進めています。このプロセッサは、大規模言語モデル（LLM）などの生成AI推論やブロックチェーンのPoWマイニングといった、膨大なトークン処理が求められる分野において、従来GPU/ASICを大きく凌駕する性能と効率を実現することを目指しています。
On September 25th Mice Times Online published a piece on Tech Osaka Summit 2025, where we showcased our vision for sustainable AI and crypto hardware - designed to reduce energy consumption without compromising performance. The event brought together top innovators, investors, and thought leaders to spotlight the Kansai region’s rising startups ahead. Read the full event coverage and LENZO’s feature in MICE Times Japan (Japanese Only).
