TOKYO – May 13, 2025 – Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN) will absorb and merge with its wholly-owned subsidiary Preferred Elements (PFE) on July 1, 2025. As of the date of merger, PFE’s business and intellectual property will be inherited by PFN.

PFE was founded in November 2023 with the goal to accelerate development of PLaMo™︎, the PFN group’s Japan-made large language model (LLM) with high Japanese-language performance, built from scratch by PFE. PFN first released the PFE-developed model through the PLaMo Prime API in December 2024, then released PLaMo 2 8B under an open license that permits paid or unpaid commercial use by individuals and small businesses. With no major change in the development policy, PFN will continue developing PLaMo as a core technology of its generative AI foundation model business.

PFE’s merger with its parent company PFN is intended for enhanced development capability for PLaMo, efficient use of management resources, and full social implementation of the LLM. Drawing on its expertise and knowledge in developing AI solutions for a variety of industry domains, PFN plans to expand its business by creating synergies between its LLM and existing businesses, and boosting its capability in developing industry-specific models.