Several global semiconductor companies on Thursday expressed their readiness to increase investment in Japan, as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to expand support to secure a stable supply of the components used in various products.
During a meeting at the prime minister's office attended by executives of major semiconductor companies, Kishida hailed their "aggressive policy" of investment in Japan and called for further investments.
Kishida, who will host the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima from Friday, expressed his readiness to take a leading role in discussions on the global challenge of securing stable supply chains.
The companies represented at the meeting included U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc., which said Thursday it will invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) over the next few years to produce next-generation memory chips at its plant in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan.
Executives of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Applied Materials Inc., IBM Corp. and imec, a Belgian research and development institution, who are visiting Japan on the occasion of the G-7 summit, also attended the meeting.
