Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently announced that the export restrictions on 23 types of chip manufacturing equipment will come into effect as soon as July 23 this year. It is reported that Japan’s technology ban is more aggressive than that of the United States. What’s wrong with Japan?
The G7 summit reached a consensus to control China, and Japan came to the forefront. AP pictures
“Japan’s export control will be more worrying to China than the US sanctions last year.” In other words, Japan will be more effective in containing China. , The production of lower-level chips used in washing machines will be affected.
Any sanctions are double-edged swords. If Japan wants to specifically target China, the world’s largest buyer, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses. According to the Japan Semiconductor Association, Japan’s chip equipment exports have declined for five consecutive months, and several well-known Japanese chip equipment material companies, including Tokyo Electronics and Nikon, have experienced declines in performance, showing that Japan’s chip equipment industry is suffering huge losses.
In 2021, the export sales of Japanese chip manufacturing equipment will increase by 51% year-on-year to US$21.7 billion, with the largest sales to China, exceeding US$7.1 billion (57% year-on-year increase), accounting for 33% of the total. If restrictions on exports to China are introduced, it will inevitably affect the sales of Japanese companies. After Japan announced the restrictive measures, the related stock prices in Japan fell, such as chip equipment Tokyo Electron (Tokyo Electron), Advantest and Screen Holding.
Many people think that Japan has the “neck” that can “stuck” any technological country in terms of cutting-edge technology, yes, but its impact is limited. For example, when a trade war broke out between Japan and South Korea in 2019, Japan implemented a number of sales restrictions on materials related to semiconductors and electronic products. South Korea was temporarily trapped, but South Korea will vigorously reduce imports from Japan in the future and switch to independent research and development. In addition, other chip equipment materials should not be used in Japan as much as possible.
The strength of Japanese semiconductors is not what it used to be. It is no longer the “Japan as No. 1” that could force out Silicon Valley in the 1980s. According to industry insiders, the competitiveness of the Japanese chip equipment industry is weak, and the lithography machines of Nikon and Canon lag behind the Netherlands. ASML, while Nikon and Canon are mainly in 28nm technology, the market is in mainland China, Taiwan’s chip technology has developed to a high level of 3nm, and there is not much demand for mature chip equipment in Japan, so Japan still needs Restricting sales to China is a self-inflicted loss. What is the conspiracy of the Kishida government?
One superficial explanation is that Japan took advantage of the trend of the G7 to join forces to control China and win over the technology industry chain. Fumio Kishida hopes to strengthen the competitiveness of Japan’s semiconductor industry. He met with senior executives of global semiconductor giants at the G7 Summit, including Intel CEO Gelsinger, TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin, and senior executives from Samsung, Micron, IBM, and Applied Materials. . It is reported that TSMC will build a second chip factory in Kumamoto, Japan, with a total investment expected to exceed US$10 billion.
Four years ago, Japan couldn’t handle South Korea, but instead urged the other party to independently develop more equipment and materials. Why can Japan hinder China’s semiconductor development and technological progress? Where is the Japanese target? It seems a reasonable explanation is that Japan and the United Kingdom—these two island nations share a kind of strategic DNA inheritance—willing to be the world’s “shit-stirring sticks.”
Because island countries are far away from the shore, they have a mentality of watching the fire from the “sea”. However, simply watching is not enough. Against the other side, it doesn’t matter whether everything you do is beneficial or not; even if you have a loss, I will give it to you! All in all, my downfall is to make you feel bad. It is conceivable why this strategy has been dubbed the indecent title of “shit stir stick”.
The United Kingdom is the originator of “offshore checks and balances”. Its methods are superb, but after being disturbed, the United Kingdom will only become notorious and the empire will be set in the sun. If Japan wants to take over and disrupt the past, you must think clearly, you don’t have the background of Britain yet!
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