Electronics Industry of Japan

2022

Japan created a state-owned company to develop chips for $0.5 billion

In mid-November 2022, [[|the Japanese]] Ministry of Industry announced the creation of a new research center as part of a joint project with the United States. We are talking about a new company Rapidus, which will develop the next generation chips. Read more here.

Japan invests $2.4 billion in R&D center to develop 2nm chips

On November 6, 2022, it became known that Japan allocated 350 billion yen (approximately $2.4 billion) for joint work with the United States to create next-generation semiconductor products.

The spending is included in a secondary budget bill for the current fiscal year, which will also include 450 billion yen ($3.1 billion) for the creation of centers for the production of advanced chips in Japan and 370 billion yen ($2.5 billion) for the provision of materials necessary for the production of products.

Japan invests $2.4 billion in R&D center

A joint research center between Japan and the United States will be established by the end of 2022 with the aim of developing and realizing the possibility of mass production of advanced semiconductor chips. We are talking about products manufactured on the basis of 2-nanometer technology.

The project will be attended by the University of Tokyo, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Sciences and Technologies of Japan and the Riken Institute for Physical and Chemical Research. In addition, companies and institutes in the United States and Europe will assist in conducting research.

450 billion yen will be spent on creating centers for the production of advanced semiconductors in Japan. The government has already approved subsidies to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), Kioxia and Micron Technology to build semiconductor factories in the country needed for data centers, artificial intelligence systems and other advanced technologies. Approximately 370 billion yen will be spent on developing supply networks to produce materials such as silicon wafers and silicon carbide.

The country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry supports the semiconductor industry not only because of its importance to economic stability, but also because it sees the yen's depreciation as an opportunity to attract investment, the publication said.[1]

2021: Japan budgeted $5.2 billion for chip production

At the end of November 2021, it became known that Japan is allocating about $5.2 billion from its budget for fiscal 2021 to support advanced manufacturers of semiconductor products. The government is investing about $3 billion in a new plant created by the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan. The remaining $2.2 billion will go to the creation of other new plants, and the projects of the American chipmaker Micron Technology and the Japanese Kioxia Holdings are being considered.

Japan budgeted $5.2 billion to support advanced semiconductor manufacturers

Micron Technology acquired a plant Elpida Memory in Hiroshima Prefecture in western Japan, where modern random access dynamic memory chips are manufactured. Micron Technology is in talks with various governments, including Japan, to invest in manufacturing. Kioxia has an advanced flash memory factory NAND in Japan. For November 2021, a new factory building is being built in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, which will begin work in 2022. Kioxia also plans to begin construction of a new plant building in Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture in 2022, which will begin operations as early as 2023.

While TSMC is a hot topic, I think it is important to take action to expand various opportunities in the private sector, such as attracting American semiconductor manufacturers. The main drivers will be science and technology, innovation, green energy, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, digitalization - these are the advanced areas in which Japan will actively invest, "said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The $5.2 billion fund will cover subsidies for several years. Companies will receive support on the condition that they increase production with a shortage of supplies, as the Japanese government hopes to ensure a stable domestic supply of chips. Amid accelerating digitalization and increased investment in data centers, demand for memory chips is expected to grow in the medium to long term. Japan's Ministry of Industry, in its package of measures to strengthen semiconductors, said that ensuring a stable supply of advanced semiconductors is the most important issue in the country's national security.^[2]

2011

IDC: Japan's semiconductor market share shrinks

The March 2011 earthquake and its catastrophic effects in Japan continue to have an impact on the global semiconductor market, an impact that could continue for several more months.

According to the analyst IDC Shane Rowe (Shane Rau), the problem is not that Japan it is not able to ensure the supply of the required components and products. As of August 2011, the main problem is on the customer's side.

"Supply chains [in Japan] have been able to adapt quickly enough to new conditions," Rowe said. "In the long term, the more significant problem is the organization of sales. What happened affected the ability of people to work and survive. When they try to find dwellings and basic necessities, they don't think about buying computers. "

Japan's role as a semiconductor consumer is significant enough. In 2009, the country used 15.3% of global semiconductor consumption. In 2011, IDC expects this figure to fall to 14.2%. Global growth in semiconductor production, according to Rowe, will be about 7% this year, up from 8% last year. One of the reasons that IDC downgraded the forecast is the disaster in Japan, and the subsequent impact on the demand for electronic systems in this country.

IDC also predicts that demand for semiconductors in Japan will decline to 0.9% in 2012, down from 3.6% in 2011. IDC had previously predicted that demand in the Land of the Rising Sun would rise by 5.6% in 2011, but the forecast was subsequently reduced to 3.6%.

"This figure is amazing for Japan, and the reason for this state of affairs is the consequences of the earthquake," Rowe said. "This is a very low figure for a country that has been a very powerful player in the high-tech market."

Rowe added that organizations and individuals in Japan now simply do not buy computers - they will make these purchases as soon as possible. In his opinion, Japan is becoming a less significant power in the global demand for computer chips. "This is part of the decline in Japan that was already taking place," Rowe said, adding that demand in Japan was showing a decline in the long term. "Other countries like China are ahead of Japan in semiconductor consumption today."

The analyst emphasized that Japan at this time is facing a difficult period in its economy, including a drop in exports due to the high value of the yen, responding also to problems in the global economy. Rowe believes consumer demand will start to return in 2013, but even then demand for chips in Japan will be weaker.

25% reduction in silicon cell production

In April 2011, analysts noted an unprecedented decline in the chip industry. It will take at least six months to restore the industry.

No other global disaster has damaged computer chip production as much as an earthquake and the ensuing tsunami in Japan, analysts say. Japanese business was seriously thrown back due to the events that began on March 11, 2011.

The disaster triggered a permanent crisis in Japanese industry primarily due to a failure in the operation of nuclear power plants (Fukushima 1 and 2), which caused the shutdown of enterprises producing electronic and automotive components.

In addition, manufacturers are experiencing serious problems with the shipment and supply of those products that have already been produced. It could take four to six months to restore chip supplies, said Dale Ford, vice president of research firm IHS iSuppli. For the entire industry, this is a huge damage.

Ford also believes that the business of some manufacturers has suffered so much that they will never be able to enter the market.

"This is a huge failure for the industry in the entire history of semiconductor production," he said. "There were other disasters, but the damage to this particular is incomparable with nothing," the expert added.

According to iSuppli, events in Japan have reduced by 25% the production of silicon elements used to create computer chips. The question is how this industry develops further.

The production of silicon elements has suffered on par with the production of LCD monitors, as well as the chemical production of, for example, hydrogen peroxide, which is also used in the production of chips.

Len Jelinek, a leading analyst at the company, believes that due to the disaster in Japan, hydrogen peroxide production has decreased by 75%.

"Many factories use this substance in their technological process, so that their production volumes are gradually decreasing," he explained.

Ford recalled that three Japanese silicon factories still cannot return to service. It will take at least a month for companies to find alternative sources of supply for these elements.

The production of popular tablets also suffered from Apple - iPad as enterprises that supplied four essential components for the device, such as a WiFi module and a touchscreen controller, are also in crisis. "You can't make a device out of 94% of the elements," Ford says.

However, the production of tablets and computers will not suffer as much as the automotive industry, they add to iSuppli. The company Renesas Technology, which manufactures chips for cars, suffered much more seriously.

Earthquake halts Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and Sharp plants

Japan faces serious problems in the power supply system, power outages and production shutdowns, including technological ones. The factories of the companies, Sony, and were stopped Toshiba. Panasonic Sharp At the same time, global networks have suffered little, and most of them are returning to almost normal functioning.

This is the result of a devastating earthquake of up to 9 points on the Richter scale and the ensuing tsunami on the East Coast of the country, which caused, among other things, emergency shutdowns and malfunctions of several nuclear power plants in the area: Fukushima-1, Fukushima-2 and Onagawa.

As a result of their outage, a series of planned power outages will sweep across all regions of eastern Japan. Their goal is to deal with a sharp drop in energy generation by the generating capacity caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. lost about 27% of its power generation capacity and will not meet demand by about 10 million kW, it said Sunday. The outages will affect areas adjacent Tokyo to and areas surrounding the capital, but will not affect central Tokyo. Each outage will last for 3 hours. They will be held in stages from 6:20 am and continue until 22:00 daily.

The government has warned that this could continue for weeks. The scale of the disaster is enormous, and its impact on companies and the national economy is now difficult to determine. Several electronics companies have factories in on Japan's east coast and have been unavailable for communication since the disaster.

In particular, Toshiba's microprocessor and sensor production is located there and its plant has been without electricity for most of the weekend, said company spokesman Keisuke Ohmori. "We do not know when we can resume production," he stressed.

Sony controls several factories in the region and has yet to release information on when they will be able to reopen. Several companies have announced plans to temporarily suspend production. This group included Toshiba, Panasonic and Sharp.

The plants are shut down either as a result of the impact of the earthquake or because production components cannot be obtained as a result of supply failures.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a televised press conference:

is the worst crisis in Japan's post-war 65-year history. I'm sure we can overcome it.'

Sony and Panasonic have announced their readiness to donate ¥ 300 million ($3.7 million) for rescue operations. Sony also said it would provide 30,000 radio stations to those affected.

However, the infrastructure of the Internet in Japan remains almost untouched by the earthquake. This is reported by the monitoring company Renesys, with reference to the analysis data. Most websites operate and are still available to support important communications features, Renesys CTO James Cowie said over the weekend.

Immediately after the earthquake, about 100 prefixes (network segments) from 6 thousand networks in Japan were decommissioned. And they began to appear in the global routing table only a few hours later. Similarly, traffic to and from Japan decreased by about 25 Gbps immediately after the earthquake, but returned to normal levels a few hours later.

One reason internet connectivity remains stable may be that underwater cables remain relatively intact by an earthquake, unlike in 2006, when an earthquake in Taiwan caused a large number of large cable breaks, Cowie noted.

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