Japan Likely to Support Micron and Kioxia Following TSMC...

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The Japanese government is expected to actively support investments in semiconductor companies to foster the domestic semiconductor industry.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 24th, the Japanese government plans to allocate approximately 600 billion yen (about 6.2 trillion KRW) in the supplementary budget for the 2021 fiscal year (April 2021 to March 2022), to be submitted to the National Diet next month, as funding to support advanced semiconductor companies.

Of this amount, 400 billion yen will be used to support TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer) from Taiwan, which has decided to build a semiconductor factory in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The remaining approximately 200 billion yen is expected to be allocated to major semiconductor memory companies such as the American Micron and Kioxia Holdings.

Micron, which acquired the former Elpida Memory, a Japanese semiconductor company, and operates a DRAM factory in Hiroshima, is reportedly in discussions with governments including Japan regarding plans for facility expansion investments.

The Japanese government is believed to have devised a strategy to attract Micron's expansion investment to Japan by offering partial support for the investment amount.

Kioxia Holdings (formerly Toshiba Memory), which mainly produces NAND flash memory, plans to partially start operations as early as next year at its new factory being built in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture.

Additionally, it plans to begin construction of a new factory in Iwate Prefecture next year and start operations from 2023.

The Nikkei reported that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview on the 19th, "Recently, TSMC has been a hot topic, but it is important to expand various possibilities in the private sector, such as attracting American semiconductor makers," indicating that the Kishida administration is focusing on policies to strengthen the stable supply base of advanced semiconductors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.