More and more companies are starting to explore the potential applications of artificial intelligence in their markets. Last week saw Chinese gaming titan Beijing Kunlun Technology Co. Ltd. join the fray with the launch of a new subsidiary in Palo Alto that will be tasked with researching how neural networks can increase the appeal of its web-based titles.

Kunlun AI is reportedly also set to develop commercial artificial intelligence software for the financial services, security and marketing industries. The outfit’s broad focus likely has something to do with the fact that its outstanding equity is split between Beijing Kunlun and a group of unnamed partners likewise interested in harnessing the technology to their advantage. But despite its wide backing, the firm won’t have an easy time pursuing its ambitious goals.

The budding artificial intelligence ecosystem is already packed with Chinese technology giants such as Alibaba Holdings Group Ltd. and Baidu Inc., which have open-sourced several internal algorithm-building tools over the past few months to help advance the field. Their efforts come against the backdrop of a similar push from Germany’s leading manufacturers to bring their analytic capabilities up par with that of their U.S. rivals. Robert Bosch GmbH last week became the latest regional player to throw into the ring by announcing plans to develop a cloud platform for processing the data generated by its electronics and industrial equipment.

The task should pose quite a challenge for the company’s software engineers given the tremendous variety of the offerings in its portfolio: Bosch’s service will require the ability to ingest and analyze dozens of different record types if it is to effectively address the full breadth of the product lineup. To make the task even more difficult, machine-generated logs often come in fast-moving streams, which can be exceptionally hard to handle when a lot of information is involved.

So much so, in fact, that Tableau Software Inc. had to bring a group of database researchers aboard last week to help with its real-time visualization efforts. They’re joining the company’s ranks as part of its acquisition of HyPer, a German startup with an in-memory store capable of ingesting new data and running queries at the same time. The functionality enables business intelligence professionals to analyze records as soon as they’re processed, which Tableau believes can facilitate the creation of more up-to-date reports in its namesake dashboarding tool.

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