Five leading Japanese chipmakers, Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Fujitsu
are reportedly planning to join a government-led joint venture to develop new
semiconductor production processes and tools for the next generation of ICs
featuring 0.1 micron (100 nanometer) and below.
Japan's government has approved a $240 million investment for the program
designed to ensure Japanese firms will have leading edge production technology
available to compete on the world IC markets in the 2003-2006 time frame..
Earlier, the same companies joined long-term government-supported projects to
develop technologies for circuitry of 0.07 micron or less.
"With the five big chipmakers at the core, we will start developing
semiconductors with 0.10 micron circuitry using the existing technological
framework." said a spokesman for the Japan Electronics and Information
Technology Industries Association (JEITA). Because of Japan's problem-plagued
economy, Japanese chip makers have been conservative in their R&D and
capital investments while their foreign competitors have invested heavily.
Without a concerted effort, Japan's IC industry risks falling technologically
behind other countries.
Consolidation also remains a big part of Japan's chip industry. Last week,
Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric said they are merging their non-memory chip
operations. Already Hitachi's has a joint manufacturing venture with NEC for the
production of DRAMs.
Japan's latest government-backed initiative will not be open to foreign firms,
the JEITA spokesman said.