Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday unveiled a billion-dollar plan to boost the development of the country’s chip industry and artificial intelligence (AI) through subsidies and other financial incentives. The plan calls for at least 10 trillion yen (61 billion euros) in funding by 2030. Reuters news agency has given this news. Ishiba did not provide details on how the plan would be financed.
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Amid escalating trade disputes between the United States and China and geopolitical tensions surrounding Taiwan, many countries are seeking to restructure and better control their chip supply chains. The Japanese government’s plan includes, among other things, legislation to support mass production of next-generation chips. Its main target is Rapidus, a state-sponsored group of companies responsible for Japan’s semiconductor production, which includes companies such as Kioxia (formerly Toshiba), NEC, Sony, and Toyota. Rapidus was launched two years ago and, with support from the United States, hopes to mass-produce its own 2-nanometer processors by 2030. According to Reuters From 2027, Rapidus will mass-produce cutting-edge chips on the northern island of Hokkaido in collaboration with US conglomerate IBM and Belgian-headquartered nano- and microelectronics research center Imec.
The plan is part of the Japanese government’s broader economic package, which is expected to be approved by the Cabinet on November 22. It envisages a total investment of at least US$50 trillion (305 billion euros) by the public and private sectors over the next ten years, according to Reuters, which was able to view a draft. In the 1990s, Japan was still one of the largest semiconductor producing countries, but since the turn of the millennium it has slipped to the same level as Europe. According to market analyses, Japan is one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing countries with a 20 percent share in global chip production, but these are mainly older technologies with structures in the double-digit nanometer range. Now the country wants to get back into the top group of chip producers.
The United States and Europe are also boosting semiconductor production
Other countries and regions are also adopting ambitious targets. In the United States, semiconductor production has become a national security issue in recent years. Today, chips are found in almost every modern electronic device – from telephones, refrigerators and computers to the most modern weapons systems. But in recent years the United States has also fallen behind China in chip production. This is raising concerns in Washington about the country’s semiconductor supply chain.
That is why the US government has started an aggressive subsidy campaign. The trade war with China and the conflict over Taiwan have highlighted the risks of relying too heavily on foreign supply chains. So the United States has launched the Chips and Science Act, a billion-dollar funding program to boost American semiconductor production, which also benefits the Pentagon.
The EU and Germany are also trying to expand local chip manufacturing to counter the strong reliance on semiconductors. Among other things, the new European Chips Act aims to attract more cutting-edge semiconductor production. To become more independent from the United States and China in the development of microelectronics and chips, the European Union has approved a billion-dollar aid program.
(AKN)
