The Japanese government will set up three bases in Hokkaido to support the development of the state-of-the-art semiconductor industry for artificial intelligence (AI). In order to revive the semiconductor industry, it plans to actively foster companies in charge of design, manufacturing, and materials.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 26th that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will consider establishing a design base such as “Physical AI” in Tokyo this fall.
It provides automatic design software or computational servers that are essential for cutting-edge products. Professional technicians will also reside to make it easy for startups and universities to use.
In addition, near the Chitose plant in Hokkaido of Lapidus, a semiconductor company established by the Japanese government, it plans to establish a facility base equipped with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment and operate it around 2029.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is also planning to build a base for making “compound semiconductor” prototypes that use materials from various elements, not general silicon, on substrates. Through this, the Japanese government expects to develop semiconductors using gallium nitride.
These bases will be created with a government budget of 130.6 billion yen (about 1.2 trillion won) and funds from the Industrial Technology Research Institute under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
“The more cutting-edge semiconductors, the more expensive they are for R&D, making it difficult for companies to invest alone,” Nikkei said. “Since design support software and latest exposure equipment cost tens of billions of yen per unit, the government pays for it to lay the foundation for the private sector to develop technology.”
[Tokyo correspondent Lee Seunghoon]
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