Japan preps $2.4B multinational semiconductor research hub

The Japanese government has cleared a 2.4-billion-dollar budget to establish a joint advanced-semiconductor research hub with US and European organizations, Nikkei reports. According to the newspaper’s sources, the University of Tokyo, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and science institute Riken will take part, as will IBM. No European candidates are mentioned, but one could speculate about the participation of Imec, Fraunhofer and/or Leti.

Recently, Nikkei also reported that the Japanese government considers joining the US export controls to China. Whether these developments are linked is unclear. The collaboration with the US was announced earlier this year, well before the implementation of the restrictions, as was the Japanese 20-billion-euro investment push in advanced technologies, including semiconductors.