To revive its chip industry, Japan needs to find its own niche in semiconductor manufacturing rather than competing with big companies on output, said NTT Chairman Jun Sawada in an interview with Reuters.
Sawada thinks Japan can’t beat Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or South Korea’s Samsung Electronics at keeping costs down and producing large volumes of chips. He believes Japan should focus on making a variety of chips in smaller amounts, targeting chips designed for specific uses and higher value. He warned that Japan made mistakes in the past by trying to produce many cheap products.
NTT is one of the big Japanese firms supporting Rapidus, a chipmaker that the government is also backing. Rapidus was founded in 2022 and aims to begin producing many advanced semiconductors in 2027. Rapidus is a key part of Tokyo’s plan to spend $65 billion to rebuild its semiconductor and artificial intelligence businesses. Japan’s three biggest banks are preparing to lend about 2 trillion yen ($12.9 billion) to support this plan.
Sawada said NTT hopes Rapidus will use its IOWN tech, which uses light instead of electricity to send data. This would make things faster and use less power. He said this tech could help Japan stand out in the market for special chips.
Japan is trying to revive its semiconductor industry as the U.S. seeks to protect the world’s chip supply chains, because China is quickly improving its tech capabilities. Sawada also said that even though U.S. taxes have caused some concern in Japan, Tokyo’s promise to spend $550 billion in the U.S. could help Japanese companies expand their businesses and attract more customers.
