In the 1980s, Japan was the dominant player in the semiconductor market. But huge shifts in the way the chip supply chain operated eroded that leading-edge.
Countries like Taiwan with TSMC , the world's largest and most advanced semiconductor manufacturer, began to dominate in the production of chips. The U.S. is key in areas like design. While the Netherlands has ASML , a company that makes tools required to manufacture cutting-edge chips.
Japan is now on a drive to revitalize its semiconductor industry.
Tokyo has unlocked billions of dollars of subsidies for the sector. At the heart of its revival efforts is Rapidus Corporation, a company founded in 2022 by the Japanese government and eight domestic companies to develop and manufacture advanced semiconductors.
Rapidus Corporation aims to manufacture 2 nanometer chips by 2027, as it looks to catch up to TSMC and Samsung.
In this episode of Beyond the Valley, Tom Chitty and I are joined by Fei Xue from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), to talk about Japan's efforts to reignite its domestic semiconductor industry.
