Electronics

On November 9th, TSMC and Sony Semiconductor jointly announced that the two sides will jointly establish a new company in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan-Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (JASM). The construction of the new company will begin in 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in 2024. It uses 22nm and 28nm process technology and has a monthly production capacity of 45,000 12-inch wafers to meet the needs of automobiles, image sensor chips and other global chips. The supply demand of the chip category affected by the shortage. The initial investment is estimated to be 7 billion U.S. dollars and has received support from the Japanese government.

u3000u3000 Japan, which once stood on the top of the world's semiconductor industry, still has a strong voice in the field of semiconductor materials and equipment, but with global chip tightness and frequent disruptions in the supply chain, Japan has also suffered from chip anxiety. The Japanese government stated that it would strengthen the foundation of the semiconductor industry by attracting foreign-funded enterprises and promoting investment, and position semiconductors as an "international strategic material" that supports the industrial foundation. On November 8, the Japanese government will propose hundreds of billions of yen in the supplementary budget for 2021, which will provide subsidies for chip factories established in Japan.

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u3000u3000 The pinnacle of Japan Semiconductor

u3000u3000 At the beginning of the semiconductor industry, the United States, as the founder, has always maintained a leading position. During the Cold War, the United States granted Japan a large number of advanced technology licenses, including transistor technology. But what the United States did not expect was that in 1959, Japan's annual output of transistors reached more than 80 million, becoming the world's first. In 1960, the output exceeded 100 million, officially dominating this field. Since the 1960s, the Japanese government has seized the opportunity to devote all efforts to the whole country to fully support the semiconductor industry in terms of policies, financial resources, and material resources.

u3000u3000 In 1962, NEC obtained the technology license from Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation and obtained the mass manufacturing process of integrated circuits. Under the leadership of the Japanese government, NEC has shared relevant technologies with companies such as Mitsubishi, making Japan truly capable of manufacturing chips. In 1976, the Japanese government used the "government-industry-university" trinity scientific research system, invested 32 billion yen, and combined with Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, Mitsubishi and Toshiba to raise 40 billion from the bank to establish a national scientific research institution VLSI. Institute of Technology-"VLSI Institute of Technology".

The senior consultant of CCID Consulting IC Center, Chi Xiannian, pointed out to the reporter of "China Electronics News" that the "government-industry-academic" trinity scientific research system proposed by the Japanese government is a wise move. The rapid development of the semiconductor industry. Moreover, because most semiconductor companies are subordinate to large-scale enterprises, large-scale enterprises have invested heavily in innovation and research and development, and the amount of investment funds has grown rapidly. Therefore, the advantages of large enterprises in the research and development of new technologies and products are significantly higher than that of small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, Japan has improved production quality on the basis of sophisticated and complex processes, engaged in sophisticated manufacturing, sustained technological improvement, and concentrated professional talents, which led to large-scale commercialization. This has also enabled Japan's semiconductor industry to advance by leaps and bounds in a short period of time, helping Japan to become a developed country, and its economy has become the world's second largest.

u3000u3000 The most glorious moment in Japan was the first DRAM memory chip in Japan to specialize in DRAM memory chips. In 1980, DRAM products developed by Japan accounted for only 30% of global sales. In 1982, it became the world's largest DRAM producer. Because price, quality, technology, and output have crushed American manufacturers such as Intel, Micron, AMD, etc., and quickly occupied the global market, Micron was forced to lay off half of its employees in 1985. With the support of the US government, it was struggling to support it. . In 1986, Intel's DRAM market share was only 1%. The huge loss required Intel to lay off 7,200 employees and shut down 7 factories to reduce losses. If IBM had no emergency rescue, Intel might have fallen into the abyss and then withdrew. Memory market.

u3000u3000 Japanese semiconductor reached its peak in 1986, accounting for about 80% of the global share. In 1993, according to statistics, Japan had six of the top ten semiconductor companies in the world. 20 years of development has been so smooth that Japan has become arrogant and its dependence on the United States has begun to waver. Fujitsu even plans to acquire 80% of Fairchild Semiconductor's shares, and the Japanese government's emphasis on the semiconductor industry has also begun to decrease. Just as the so-called arrogant soldiers will lose, the United States completely shattered Japan's dream of semiconductors.

u3000u3000 Japan-US Semiconductor War

u3000u3000 After the United States realized the seriousness of the problem, Silicon Valley technology companies established the Semiconductor Industry Association-SIA to deal with the Japanese monopoly, constantly lobbying the US government, and proposing the theory that Japan’s occupation of the semiconductor market would endanger US national security. As a result, the US government immediately began sanctions against Japanese semiconductors.

u3000u3000 In September 1986, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan and the U.S. Department of Commerce signed the first Japan-U.S. semiconductor agreement for the purpose of restricting Japanese semiconductor exports to the U.S. and expanding the share of U.S. semiconductors in the Japanese market. In March 1987, the U.S. government imposed 100% import tariffs on Japan as a retaliatory measure on the grounds that Japan failed to comply with the agreement. On May 27, 1987, the Toshiba Incident happened. While condemning Japan, the United States imposed sanctions on Toshiba.

u3000u3000 In June 1991, Japan and the United States again signed a five-year new semiconductor agreement. The United States hopes that the share of foreign semiconductor products in the Japanese market will exceed 20% by the end of 1992. Although Japan's strong resistance is of no avail, Japanese semiconductors have begun to fall from the altar, and the US semiconductor market has also recovered and gradually recovered.

u3000u3000 However, after being restricted by the United States, the entire semiconductor industry in Japan is in a downturn. The once brilliant chip manufacturers have gradually left the public eye. The original market share has been divided by semiconductor companies in South Korea and other countries and regions. However, Japan has not broken its tanks, but has begun to adjust its strategy. The key points of the strategy are to reduce production costs, expand overseas layout, and occupy the upstream material and equipment market to form an industrial chain. This strategy Japan has continued to this day, and the effect is remarkable.

u3000u3000Materials and equipment Japan still leads the world

u3000u3000 The most obvious is that the share of photoresist in Japan can account for more than 80% of the world, and EUV photoresist can only be produced by Japanese companies. Others such as Tokyo Electronics and DNS in the field of semiconductor equipment, Shin-Etsu Chemical Industry and SUMCO in the field of materials, almost monopolizing these fields, also allowed Japan to regain a foothold in the global semiconductor industry.

Chi Xiannian pointed out to the reporter of "China Electronics News" that semiconductors are technology-intensive industries, and that the more the core technology goes upstream in the industry chain, the more dense and high-end the core technology, especially in the field of semiconductor materials and equipment, directly affects the entire industry chain. Downstream trends. As Japan has a global lead in the field of semiconductor materials and equipment, Japan still has a great say in the field of semiconductor upstream.

u3000u3000 But Japan’s semiconductor industry needs to make up for many links if it wants to develop further. Japan’s shortcomings have the following two industrial chain links: In the field of IC manufacturing, in addition to memory manufacturing, Japan does not have an advantage in the field of IC manufacturing. At present, there are immature manufacturers in the high-end process of IC manufacturing below 14nm, which are at a competitive disadvantage relative to the global manufacturing level. In the field of IC packaging and testing, there are no Japanese companies among the world's top ten packaging and testing companies. The packaging and testing fields are mainly concentrated in Taiwan, the United States, China and other countries and regions. Japan's packaging and testing industry does not have a leading edge.

Zhang Binlei, a senior analyst at Xinmou Research, told the reporter of "China Electronics News" that the disadvantages of the Japanese semiconductor industry are very obvious. Except for storage, CIS and passive passive devices, which are suitable for IDM development, Japan has a lot of advantages in key areas such as advanced process and VLSI. No achievements. In addition, Japanese terminal manufacturers are gradually declining.

u3000u3000 Zhang Binlei believes that the essence of the decline of the Japanese semiconductor industry is essentially the decline of the IDM model. With the extreme pursuit of Moore's Law in the process, the capital threshold of IDM-type semiconductor companies is getting higher and higher, and wafer manufacturing foundries have emerged. Wafer foundries represented by TSMC continue to catch up with and surpass IDM companies represented by Intel in process, reflecting the trend that IDM model is not suitable for mainstream chips.

u3000u3000 Japan’s advantageous areas have the following three industrial chain links: First, semiconductor materials: Japanese semiconductor materials account for about 60% of the global semiconductor materials market. Of the 19 key materials in the entire semiconductor field, 14 of them account for more than 50% of the global production capacity. For materials such as high-purity hydrogen fluoride, photoresist and fluorinated polyamide, Japan has a monopoly advantage.

u3000u3000 Market share of 14 core semiconductor materials

u3000u3000 The second is the field of semiconductor equipment: Japan accounts for nearly 40% of the global semiconductor equipment market. Among the world's 15 largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers, there are about 7 in Japan, and Japanese semiconductor production equipment accounts for about 30% of the overall share. Japan occupies a dominant monopoly position in three major items: cleaning, drying equipment, and even glue developing machine.

u3000u3000 The third is the field of IC design: Japan has a global leader in storage semiconductors, logic semiconductors, analog semiconductors (including sensors) and power semiconductors and has a large market share. For example, Sony’s image sensor chip ranks first in the world; Renesas Electronics has a leading advantage in automotive semiconductors and general-purpose semiconductors; Japan’s Mitsubishi occupies the world’s number one market in the field of IGBT modules; Toshiba Semiconductor’s NAND memory maintains a leading position in the world.

u3000u3000Develop a new semiconductor growth strategy

u3000u3000 Japan Semiconductor once stood on top of the world in the 1980s. Among the top ten semiconductor companies, Japan has the exclusive market share of 6 companies, and was later overtaken by the United States. The latest data from IC Insights shows that there is no Japanese company among the top ten latest global semiconductor manufacturers. In 1988, Japan accounted for 50.3% of the world semiconductor market, and by 2021 only about 9%, which gave Japan a lot of motivation, hoping to re-strengthen its right to speak in the field of manufacturing.

u3000u3000 On May 24, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), in which semiconductor companies participate, made a proposal to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. If this continues, the semiconductor industry may disappear from Japan in about 10 years. Professor Hideki Wakabayashi from the Tokyo University of Science Research Institute pointed out that Japan should invest 10 trillion yen in the field of semiconductors, and it should devote itself to the research and development of talents and technology with its cooperating countries.

u3000u3000 On June 2, the Japanese government announced a draft growth strategy. At the resolution meeting, the Japanese government stated that the most important thing in Japan at present is whether it can strengthen the foundation of the semiconductor industry by attracting foreign companies and promoting investment. Japan positions semiconductors as the "international strategic materials" that support the industrial foundation, and will substantially expand funding support policies in accordance with its development strategy.

u3000u3000 On November 8, the Japanese government will propose hundreds of billions of yen in the supplementary budget for 2021 to create a fund bank for the Japan New Energy Industry Technology Development Agency (NEDO). To provide subsidies for chip factories established in Japan, this legislation may be submitted at a special session of the Diet in December.

u3000u3000 This time attracting TSMC to build a factory in Kumamoto is an attempt by Japan to strengthen its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. With the support of the Japanese government, TSMC and Sony have determined that they will invest USD 7 billion in a joint venture to build a factory in Kumamoto, Japan. The new plant will use 22nm to 28nm process technology. At present, the process technology in Japan is still above 40 nanometers, which is a very big progress for the Japanese semiconductor industry. TSMC may become the first aid target of the new policy and may receive up to half of the subsidy.

u3000u3000Moreover, the new factory will also provide 1,500 jobs for Japan. Zhang Binlei said that this will cultivate a group of manufacturing industry talents in Japan. On this basis, promote the development of Japanese design and manufacturing industries. Chi Xiannian believes that the establishment of TSMC will promote the development of Japan's IC design industry. Because of the local manufacturing plant, the transportation cost of foundry is reduced, which will activate the vigorous development of the local design industry.

u3000u3000The prospects for strengthening cooperation between Chinese and Japanese enterprises are broad

u3000u3000 Japanese companies are also working hard to cooperate with Chinese companies. Seizing the opportunity for the development of the Chinese market has become an important opportunity for Japan to re-strengthen its IC industry.

u3000u3000 Toshiba (China) Co., Ltd. Chairman and President Yoichi Miyazaki said at the 4th China International Import Expo that the current Chinese market's revenue accounts for about 15% of Toshiba's entire group. "China is Toshiba Group's largest overseas market and it is extremely important to us." Miyazaki Yoichi believes that in the past 30 years, Chinese and Japanese manufacturing companies have their own advantages in different fields and can help each other in the future. At present, electronic components contribute the most to Toshiba Group's revenue in China, accounting for about 40% of the revenue.

u3000u3000 Rohm Semiconductor (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Technology Center General Manager Suwon Tokken told the "China Electronics News" reporter that in 2021, Rohm and Geely Automobile Group have established a strategic partnership. As the first achievement, the electronic control system using ROHM silicon carbide has been applied to the pure electric platform currently being developed by Geely. In addition, ROHM has established silicon carbide joint laboratories with BAIC New Energy, United Automotive Electronics and Zhenqiu Technology. Rohm’s silicon carbide devices are used to jointly develop inverters and high-performance modules for driving electric vehicles.

u3000u3000 In October 2021, Zhenghai Group Co., Ltd. and ROHM signed a joint venture agreement, and the two parties will establish a new company mainly engaged in power module business. It is planned to be established in China in December 2021. The new company will devote itself to the development of advanced power module business for traction inverters for new energy vehicles, and to develop, design, manufacture and sell power modules using silicon carbide (SiC) power components. It also integrates the inverter technology and module development technology of Zhenghai Group's companies with Rohm's module production technology and advanced silicon carbide chip technology to develop high-efficiency power modules. It is expected that the module products developed by the new company will be put into mass production in 2022, and it is planned to be used in electric vehicles.