Japan plans to sell $108 billion worth of microchips by 2030

The Japanese government has approved a plan to sell $108 billion worth of domestically produced microchips by 2030, according to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, writes Bloomberg.

“Japanese companies associated with the production of chips are investing various funds, including smaller ones, and we would like to support these investments. <...> We want to secure the necessary budget to support these efforts,” said Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura.

The agency notes that in 2020, sales amounted to about 5 trillion yen (about $35.6 billion).

June 5 Reuters, citing French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire wrotethat the country will allocate 2.9 billion euros from the budget for the construction of a microchip plant manufactured by STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries. According to the minister, the allocated funds are part of a total package of 5.5 billion euros that France has allocated for investments in the microchip sector until 2030.

Last October, the US government passed the Chip Act, which imposes important export bans on advanced microchips and their manufacturing equipment to China. The White House is set to legislate to ban all American investment in high-tech Chinese companies, including developers of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, 5G, and advanced semiconductors.

Japan and the European Union have also joined in reducing dependence on Chinese chips. In the fall of 2021, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, said that Europe aims to increase the share of chips in the global market to 20% by 2030. On April 18, the EU agreed on a plan for 43 billion euros for its semiconductor industry. Reuters noted that this is how the European Union plans to “catch up” with the US and Asia and “start a green industrial revolution.”

In January Bloomberg wrotethat Japan and the Netherlands intend to team up with the US to limit exports of chip manufacturing equipment to China. The Netherlands planned to limit the ability of ASML Holding to sell equipment for the manufacture of certain types of chips to China, and Japan, in turn, planned to take similar measures against Nikon. June 4 South China Morning Post reportedthat Japan approved export restrictions on the supply to China of 23 types of equipment and materials that can be used in the production of semiconductor components.