EXPLORING DEMAND
By around 2027, global demand for advanced, energy-efficient semiconductors is expected to explode as AI and digital technologies further enter people’s daily lives, Higashi said.
US tech firms like Google and OpenAI are also investing heavily in Japan in the hope that the country, once a world-beating technology pioneer, can regain its edge with AI.
The CEO of Nvidia, whose chips currently dominate in AI, said the firm would “do our very, very best” to supply Japan.
But it is clear that it must rely less on foreign supply, Higashi said, adding: “We are becoming a digital society. All kinds of industries in Japan will rely immensely on semiconductors.”
Japan was a big player in the semiconductor industry in the 1980s through early 1990s, commanding half of the global market with the likes of NEC and Toshiba leading the way.
Now it accounts for about 10 per cent of the market, although it remains a leader in chip-making equipment and materials, with firms such as Higashi’s former employer Tokyo Electron.
But Japan’s aims also have a geopolitical angle as it, along with the United States and others seek to reduce their reliance on TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan because of fears of a Chinese invasion.
At the same time, Washington is seeking to restrict the supply of next-generation chips to China to hold up Beijing’s AI drive.
While avoiding directly discussing geopolitics, Higashi said he expected firms in friendly nations, like Japan and the United States, to share tasks to maintain international supply chains.
“In Japan, like the United States, there are many major production equipment firms and materials companies. They are dealing with customers that require very advanced products,” he said.
“Those production-equipment makers and materials firms are providing their support to us.”
And its success should inspire young engineers to further growth Japan’s chip sector, he added.
“We must create new semiconductors and inspire people that we can create a new world,” he said.
