Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi Asako posted on February 5: "This morning, I met with Chairman Liu De-yin of Taiwan's semiconductor company TSMC at the official residence."
In today's meeting, I received encouraging news from Chairman Liu: TSMC will change its second factory planned in Kumamoto to produce the most advanced 3-nanometer logic chips and increase the investment amount.
The 3-nanometer logic chips are not only for data centers but also applied to the strategic fields designated by Takahashi's cabinet — AI robots and autonomous driving, the world's most cutting-edge chips.
Originally concentrated in Taiwan, the most advanced 3-nanometer-level factories now being established in Japan have significant meaning from the perspective of strengthening the resilience of the global semiconductor supply chain as a strategic material and ensuring national economic security.
Prime Minister Takahashi's administration will break away from previous austerity tendencies and the lack of future investments. Under the concept of responsible proactive fiscal policy, the government will take the initiative, introduce bold policies with high predictability, and promote domestic "crisis management investment" and "growth investment" through government-industry collaboration.
AI and semiconductors are core strategic areas, and the cooperation with TSMC is a model of this approach.
Chairman Liu also highly praised the Takahashi cabinet's bold policy of supporting domestic investment in AI and semiconductor sectors, as well as the strategy of promoting investment, creating demand, and cultivating talent in cutting-edge areas such as generative AI, autonomous driving, and AI robots.
Furthermore, the semiconductor industry cluster forming in Kumamoto, driven by the opportunity to attract TSMC, is the leader of the core of the Takahashi cabinet's "regional future strategy" — "industrial cluster" development. It has already brought economic spillover effects to the entire Kyushu region, representing the revival of the "Kyushu Silicon Island."
The Takahashi cabinet will strategically create such industrial clusters across Japan, making the Japanese archipelago strong and prosperous.
I am also happy to learn that Chairman Liu has read my book — "Toward a Beautiful, Strong, and Continuously Growing Nation," published in 2021. Perhaps it is because the book contains relevant content about TSMC."
Comment: Prime Minister Takahashi took the opportunity of TSMC upgrading its second factory in Kumamoto to 3-nanometer process to make a prominent statement. Essentially, she is politicizing and securing the semiconductor industry chain. On one hand, she uses the establishment of advanced process technology to build the "Kyushu Silicon Island," boost the economy, and create political momentum. This reflects a distinct right-wing economic nationalism. On the other hand, it aligns with the U.S. "de-risking" strategy, promoting the diversification and exclusionary nature of the chip supply chain, and strengthening the alliance between Japan and the U.S. in the field of cutting-edge semiconductors. On the surface, this is about economic security and industrial layout, but in reality, it secretly sends a wrong message regarding Taiwan, seriously violating the One-China Principle. At the same time, relying on fiscal subsidies to attract high-end capacity may temporarily enhance Japan's chip position, but in the long term, it still has weaknesses in self-reliance, and it will exacerbate the polarization of the global semiconductor industry chain, increasing the risks of technological and geopolitical rivalry in the region.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1856314822386820/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author."