Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks during a doorstep after attending the AI Ecosystem Reception in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday. Reuters-YonhapNvidia chief Jensen Huang gave a confident projection of sustained demand for artificial intelligence Thursday as worries over how long the boom will last drag stocks down."Most technology cycles last anywhere from 10 to 15 years before it kind of plateaus. We are at the beginning of this one," the US chip giant's CEO told reporters in Tokyo."Is it going to flatten out? It will never go down, just as electricity never went down," he said, adding that semiconductors will be the world's largest industry, as part of its "social fabric."Tech shares in Asia and Europe extended falls Thursday, as anxiety grows among traders that the AI rally has run its course.Huang, CEO of California's Nvidia -- the world's most valuable company as governments and tech firms race to build AI data centres crammed with powerful silicon chips -- has struck several deals in Japan this week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang makes a toast with Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yohei Matsumoto during a press reception on Japan's AI ecosystem in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday. Reuters-YonhapNvidia and Kawasaki Heavy Industries will co-develop AI-powered robots for use in shipbuilding, the Japanese firm said Thursday.The aim is to use the robots in welding, painting, inspection and material handling as part of a "next-generation digital shipyard using physical AI and digital twin technology," Kawasaki said in a statement."Japan's shipbuilding industry currently faces serious challenges, including a declining number of skilled workers and labor shortages driven by the falling birthrate and ageing population," the company said."At the same time, global efforts to reduce environmental impact are driving worldwide demand for low- and zero-carbon vessels, making it an urgent priority for the shipbuilding industry as a whole to expand construction capacity and improve productivity."Nvidia also said Thursday it would sell 27,500 AI chips from its cutting-edge Rubin series to Noetra, a new consortium of firms including SoftBank and Sony, for a government-supported project to develop a homemade AI model for robotics.Other tie-ups announced included a collaboration on robotics with Japan's Fujitsu and others.Taiwanese-born Huang, 63, visited a Tokyo arcade on Wednesday with Sega executives and thanked the Japanese video game maker for saving Nvidia with a $5-million investment in the 1990s."If not for what Sega did for Nvidia and what Irimajiri-san did for Nvidia, Nvidia would not be here today," Huang said, referring to Sega's former president Shoichiro Irimajiri."To imagine that in 1995, Nvidia was nearly out of business, that we had chosen exactly the wrong technology, and that we will be here today, the largest company in the world, is unimaginable," he said.