Japan is ramping up efforts to revive its once dominant chip industry

Published

1 year ago

November 13, 2024

admin

Japan is looking to revitalize its semiconductor industry. The Japanese government has unlocked billions of dollars in subsidies for its domestic chip sector.

Thicha Studio | Istock | Getty Images

Japan has announced a new plan to revitalize the country’s semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries as it works to regain its chip leadership.

The proposal will provide support worth 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) or more by fiscal 2030, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said earlier this week.

“We will formulate a new assistance framework to attract more than 50 trillion yen in public and private investment over the next 10 years,” Ishiba said, adding it would be part of broader “revitalization” efforts in Japan.

The plan will be part of a comprehensive economic package to be finalized in November and will be financed through subsidies, government institution investments and debt guarantees, according to local media.

The move comes amid broader efforts by Japan to bolster and diversify its semiconductor supply chain, with the government aiming to triple sales of domestically produced chips to more than 15 trillion yen by 2030.

Domestic chip hero?

One likely beneficiary of the funding announced Monday will be Japan-based Rapidus, a state-backed chip venture at the heart of the country’s chip revitalization efforts.

Founded in 2022 by the Japanese government, Rapidus has backing from a host of Japanese firms— including Toyota Motor and the Sony Group — and is collaborating with U.S. tech giant IBM.

The company has already received over $2 billion in government support as it aims to mass-produce cutting-edge 2-nanometer logic chips by 2027.

Logic chips are used to process information and complete tasks within electronic devices. The most advanced logic chips are used in technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine learning.

Rapidus chairman Tetsuro Higashi has reportedly called the company Japan’s “last opportunity” to regain a leading semiconductor position on the global stage as it looks to catch up with leaders like Taiwan and South Korea.

In the 1980s, Japan was the world’s dominant chip player and occupied more than half of the global semiconductor market.

However, the country began losing its leading edge with the emergence of foreign competitors like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., now the world’s dominant contract chip manufacturer, and South Korea’s Samsung.

Both Samsung and TSMC have laid out plans to begin commercial production of 2-nanometer chips by 2025.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has become a key player in chip design, with companies like Intel and Micron, while the Netherlands makes the world’s most advanced chip-making equipment through its company ASML.

Feasibility

Though it has lost its leadership in semiconductor production and manufacturing, Japan remains a leader in certain semiconductor materials and equipment, Michael Yang, senior director of semiconductors at analyst and consulting firm Omdia, told CNBC.

Through its chip subsidies, which have mostly been geared toward increasing manufacturing capacity, the country should be able to expand into other aspects of the supply and enhance its position, Yang added.

Still, regaining the chip market will be an uphill battle for Japan and will require Rapidus to find a “shortcut” in chip design and production to reach the level of advancement of leading semiconductor companies, said Brady Wang, semiconductor analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Rapidus representatives have said that the architecture of the 2-nanometer chip is different from that of 3-nanometer ones, making mass production of the former a “blank-slate challenge for all players,” and presenting a prime opportunity to break into the market.

However, in this endeavor, “subsidies are a must-have, but cannot guarantee their success,” Wang said, adding that it took TSMC over a decade to catch up to global chip firms and build relationships with customers.

“Subsidies are only a basic requirement for entering the semiconductor industry, but success requires more supportive measures, such as talent, technology, and strategic planning,” said Ken Kuo, senior research vice president at tech market intelligence firm TrendForce.

Learning from the best

In addition to trying to establish a dominant chip producer in Japan, subsidies have also been aimed at attracting the global leaders that once took its chip business.

With aid from the Japanese government, chipmakers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel Corp have agreed to invest billions of dollars into Japan.

Such companies are leaders in producing memory chips used to store data, which are essential in data centers used for AI and cloud computing.

TSMC has already announced plans to build a second fabrication plant in Japan ahead of the completion of its first.

According to Counterpoint’s Wang, attracting such companies entering Japan can help the country quickly boost vertical integration across the supply chain and more quickly build up its semiconductor ecosystem.

Japan has also signed collaboration agreements — with allies such as the U.S., the U.K., Taiwan and a number of EU countries — that are aimed at advancing research and development involving next-generation semiconductors.

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report

Technology

SoftBank sinks over 10% as Nvidia-fueled rout sweeps Asian chip names

Published

2 hours ago

November 21, 2025

admin

SoftBank sinks over 10% as Nvidia-fueled rout sweeps Asian chip names

The logo of Japanese company SoftBank Group is seen outside the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on January 22, 2025.

Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images

A sector-wide pullback hit Asian chip stocks Friday, led by a steep decline in SoftBank, after Nvidia‘s sharp drop overnight defied its stronger-than-expected earnings and bullish outlook.

SoftBank plunged more than 10% in Tokyo. The Japanese tech conglomerate recently offloaded its Nvidia shares but still controls British semiconductor company Arm, which supplies Nvidia with chip architecture and designs.

SoftBank is also involved in a number of AI ventures that use Nvidia’s technology, including the $500 billion Stargate project for data centers in the U.S.

South Korea’s SK Hynix fell nearly 10%. The memory chip maker is Nvidia’s top supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in AI applications. Samsung Electronics, a rival that also supplies Nvidia with memory, fell over 5%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and manufacturer of Nvidia’s chip designs, was down over 4% in Taipei.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, which manufactures server racks designed for AI workloads, dipped 4%.

The retreat in major Asian semiconductor giants comes after Nvidia fell over 3% in the U.S. on Thursday, despite beating Wall Street expectations in its third-quarter earnings the night before.

The company also provided stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter sales guidance, which analysts said could lift earnings expectations across the sector.

However, smaller chip players in Asia were not spared either.

In Tokyo, Renesas Electronics, a key Nvidia supplier, fell 2.3%. Tokyo Electron, which provides essential chipmaking equipment to foundries that manufacture Nvidia’s chips, was down 5.32%.

Another Japanese chip equipment maker, Lasertec, was down over 3.5%.

Technology

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to ‘one-up’ deal

Published

8 hours ago

November 20, 2025

admin

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to 'one-up' deal

An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.

Roselle Chen | Reuters

Air taxi maker Joby Aviation in a new lawsuit accused competitor Archer Aviation of using stolen information by a former employee to “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.

“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” Joby said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, where the company is based.

Archer and Joby did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that former U.S. state and local policy lead, George Kivork, downloaded dozens of files and sent some content to his personal email two days before he resigned in July to take a job at Archer, which had recruited him.

By August, Joby said a partner that worked with Kivork said it had been approached by Archer with a “more lucrative deal.” Joby alleges that the eVTOL rival’s understanding of “highly confidential” details helped it leverage negotiations.

Joby also said the developer attempted to terminate the agreement, citing a breach of confidentiality.