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According to a report by Nikkei on July 9th, eight major Japanese semiconductor manufacturers, including Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm, Toshiba, Kioxia, Renesas, Rapidus, and Fuji Electric, have finalized their equipment investment plans for the period of 2021 to 2029, with a total investment of 5 trillion yen (approximately $31 billion) by 2029. This investment will primarily focus on increasing production of power semiconductors, image sensors, and logic semiconductors, which are considered essential materials for economic security.

The report states that Sony will invest approximately 1.6 trillion yen from 2021 to 2026 to increase production of CMOS image sensors and other products, with plans to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. Furthermore, due to the anticipated growth of AI data centers and the EV market, Japanese companies are increasing their production of power semiconductors. Toshiba and Rohm will jointly invest approximately 380 billion yen to increase production of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors. Mitsubishi Electric plans to invest approximately 100 billion yen to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, aiming to increase SiC power semiconductor production capacity to five times the 2022 level by 2026. Mitsubishi Electric President Hiroshi Kajiyama stated, "We will establish a system that can compete with global leaders like Infineon."

Data shows that Japan's semiconductor industry held a 50% global market share in 1988. However, Japanese companies lost out to Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers in the investment competition from the 1990s onwards, leading them to withdraw from advanced process development in the 2000s. Consequently, their market share fell below 10% in 2017. However, the Japanese government has actively revitalized the semiconductor industry in recent years. In the field of advanced logic semiconductors, essential for AI, the government has decided to provide up to 920 billion yen in support to Rapidus. Rapidus plans to start trial production of 2nm chips in April 2025 and begin mass production in 2027.

Omdia, a British research firm, indicates that Japanese semiconductor manufacturers recorded a market share of 8.68% in terms of sales revenue in 2023, representing a 0.03 percentage point increase year-on-year, marking the first growth in seven years. Omdia analyst Akira Minagawa points out, "Companies are making large-scale investments, and Japanese semiconductor production and market share are expected to rebound from 2024 onwards."

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) aims to increase Japan's semiconductor sales revenue to approximately 15 trillion yen by 2030, including contributions from overseas companies like TSMC. This target represents a threefold increase from 2020 levels.

Editor：Lulu

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