Japan to foster industry in the face of global semiconductor supply shortage
Renesas to take over for 6.6 trillion won in UK dialogue
▲ TSMC is promoting the establishment of an R&D center in Japan. The photo shows TSMC headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Hsinchu/Reuters Yonhap News
TSMC, the world’s largest foundry (consigned semiconductor manufacturing company), will enter Japan for the first time in the form of establishing a research and development (R&D) center. An analysis says that it is a move to check competitors such as Samsung Electronics and Chinese semiconductor companies by joining hands with Japanese local companies through research bases.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 9th that TSMC plans to set up an R&D base in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo with 20 billion yen (about 2123 billion won).
TSMC will hold a board of directors soon and decide on a plan to advance into Japan, and will officially announce it this week as early as possible. A TSMC official said, “We cannot comment, but we will announce it as soon as it is decided.” TSMC’s Japanese new company is planning to develop technology related to packaging, one of the semiconductor back-end processes. Along with this, it is known that they are considering establishing a semiconductor production line. Nikkei explained, “The sector that requires the most technological prowess in semiconductor manufacturing is the pre-processing process, but the post-processing has recently become more important, so global semiconductor companies are competing fiercely for technology development.”
TSMC’s move seems to be a strategy to speed up the development of high-tech technologies to contain Samsung Electronics, Korea’s largest rival, and Chinese companies that are rapidly emerging. TSMC is already actively cooperating with Japanese companies in its home country of Taiwan, and in the United States, it is working to build a high-tech semiconductor factory with an investment of 12 billion dollars.
In other words, it will effectively utilize the strengths of Japan and the United States to confront the growth of Korean and Chinese semiconductor companies. In this regard, Nikkei said, “In order for TSMC to hurry to develop state-of-the-art semiconductors, it has been determined that it is essential to enter Japan directly, where world-class semiconductor device and material companies are gathered.”
Japan is also focusing on the growth of the semiconductor industry at the public-private level. In a rapidly changing environment, such as the US-China trade war and the deepening of global semiconductor supply shortages, it is trying to regain its former status, which was once the world’s number one semiconductor. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan is considering a plan to subsidize the connection between TSMC and Japanese companies by designating semiconductors as a strategic field. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry played a leading role in attracting TSMC’s first R&D center in Japan. Prof. Rumi Aoyama of Waseda University said, “It is definitely great news for Japan to attract the popular TSMC through persistent negotiations by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in the midst of announcing production cuts one after another due to a shortage of semiconductors.” Even under the regime, if tensions in the US-China relations persist, the connection between Japan and Taiwan will be further strengthened over the development of advanced semiconductors.”
Renesas Technology, a company specializing in automotive semiconductors, agreed to acquire Dialog Semiconductor, a British semiconductor design company, for 4.9 billion euros (about 6.6 trillion won). Dialogue possesses next-generation mobile communication 5G-related technology, so Renesas can expand its business area further with this acquisition.