The importance of semiconductors no longer needs to be emphasized. In order to attract chip manufacturers to invest in research and development, all countries now provide huge subsidies, and Japan is no exception. Japan used to be the leader in semiconductor chips, especially in memory, flash memory and other storage chips. However, after Elpida, Japan’s current memory industry needs to rely on investment from the American manufacturer Micron.The Japanese government recently announced that it will allocate 536 billion yen, equivalent to approximately 25.9 billion yuan, to support Micron's expansion of its factory in Hiroshima.
Among them, 500 billion yen is used for the production line, and the other 36 billion yen is used to fund Micron's research and development of the next generation of high-speed, large-capacity memory.
In order to obtain subsidies, Micron will invest in the construction of new chip factories in Japan by 2030, totaling 1.5 trillion yen, which means 1/3 of the investment is subsidized by the Japanese government.
The reason why Japan provides subsidies is also very simple. 80% of the raw materials used in Micron's local production are products from Japanese manufacturers, and it also cultivates local talents.
Prior to this, Japan has provided two rounds of subsidies to Micron, and the current round will total 700 billion yen.
Japanese subsidies are not only for memory chips. The Kumamoto factory built by TSMC in Japan has also received subsidies. The newly established Rapidus company in the past two years relies entirely on Japanese government funding and plans to mass-produce the 2nm process in 2027.
