Japan Looks To Chip Production As Part Of Stimulus Plan

Japan’s economic stimulus package will feature a plan to urgently strengthen the chip industry while the government will also formulate a strategy for storage batteries, trade minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Monday.

Hagiuda unveiled the plan days before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to announce a stimulus package worth “several tens of trillion yen” to ease the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the economy, reported Reuters. 

The plan followed an announcement by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing last week on planned construction of a $7 billion chip plant in Japan with Sony, a move that was welcomed by the Japanese government.

Japan’s chip-making sector, once the world’s No.1 industry in the 1980s, has struggled to maintain its competitive edge, going into steady decline in the past three decades, as regional rivals such as Taiwanese manufacturers make headway.

“A major cause of the lost three decades was the lack of digital investment,” Hagiuda told a panel meeting at the ministry.

“Many of the problems Japan faces could be resolved by making use of digital technology … The key to post-corona growth is to revitalise broader digital investment nationwide.”

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