Major Japanese companies such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and Kioxia Holdings, have decided to invest in a new state-backed company that aims to mass-produce next-generation logic semiconductors, TV Tokyo reported on Thursday.
Other companies, including Toyota Motor, Sony Group, SoftBank and Denso Corp, also plan to invest about 1 billion yen ($6.84 million) each into the new company, the Nikkei newspaper reported separately.
Japan’s government will set up a new research centre by the end of 2022 to develop sub 2-nanometre semiconductors, which will be led by a former Tokyo Electron president, TV Tokyo also said.
Asian companies are racing to develop advanced computer chips – a technological rivalry that heated up after the US imposed new export controls on advanced chips being sold to China.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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