American semiconductor companies, which have mainly used Taiwan as a production base for advanced semiconductors, have begun diversifying their supply chains to their own countries and Japan. It is addressed with the intention of responding to the “revival of semiconductor glory” by the US administration of Donald Trump and the Japanese Cabinet of Takaichi Sanae and avoiding growing geopolitical risks in Taiwan.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 30th, the US semiconductor company Micron will expand a new production line to an existing factory in Hiroshima, Japan to produce semiconductors for artificial intelligence (AI). The investment cost is approximately 1.5 trillion yen (approximately 14 trillion won), and the Japanese government has decided to support up to 500 billion yen (approximately 4.7 trillion won), which amounts to one-third of the investment amount. The new factory will produce next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) with excellent data transmission speed and suitable for generative AI processing. The scheduled shipment date is 2028. Nikkei said, “The new plant in Hiroshima will become the world's leading next-generation HBM base,” and “we will pursue SK hynix, which is leading in technology.” He added, “In a situation where the global supply of AI semiconductors is scarce, it is expected that prices will drop as we can reliably secure key components within Japan.”
Micron has mainly produced advanced HBMs in Taiwan. However, as geopolitical risks grew, as the US-China conflict lengthened and concerns about the Chinese government's military threat to Taiwan grew, the intention was to diversify production bases. This is gaining momentum in line with the Japanese government's goal to focus on fostering the semiconductor industry. The Japanese government plans to establish a cutting-edge semiconductor supply chain by supporting 10 trillion yen (approximately 94 trillion won) or more in the semiconductor and AI fields by 2030. In addition to Micron, the Japanese government is also investing huge sums of money into Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, and Japan's Rapidus.
Efforts for reshoring semiconductor production bases (domestic production) are continuing in the United States as well. Intel, the largest shareholder of the US government, is expected to soon take charge of Apple's advanced chip production. Guo Mingqi, an analyst at TF International Securities, told X (formerly Twitter) on the 28th that the two companies recently signed a confidentiality agreement and are discussing ways for Intel to produce Apple's M series chips. The reason Apple is trying to restore its relationship with Intel is in line with the Trump administration's intention to revive the US semiconductor industry. Intel expects to increase its share of the small foundry market and boost technology through this Apple chip production contract.
