Electronics

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, during a telephone conversation with Japanese Minister of Economy and Industry Yasuhiro Nishimura, US Commerce Minister Raymond directly asked Japan to "respond" to the US government's chip export control measures against China.

This is the most straightforward pressure the United States has put on Japan recently. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, on October 7, the US Department of Commerce announced a series of new regulations on chip export control to China. Later that month, US Vice Minister of Commerce Estowitz said that he would "reach an agreement in a short period of time" to persuade Japan and the Netherlands to implement similar measures. Jack Sullivan, the National Security Adviser of the White House, also said on December 12 that he had "discussed taking similar measures" with Japan and the Netherlands.

Japan has not yet made a clear answer to this question. However, Japan's tendency to cater to the United States and engage in a technological blockade against China in recent years is alarming. Japan's Ministry of Economy and Industry has included a large number of Chinese entities in the export control list; In July this year, the "2+2" conference mechanism of Japan US economic edition jointly discussed "semiconductor supply chain security"; A few days ago, after a telephone conversation with the United States, Nishimura did not disclose the details of the discussion, but said to the media: "Japan has always been in the spirit of international cooperation, strictly implementing export controls in accordance with foreign exchange and foreign trade laws."

According to the international semiconductor industry data, China is currently the largest market for semiconductor equipment in the world. In 2021, the sales of semiconductor equipment in Chinese Mainland will reach US $29.6 billion, accounting for 41.6% of the global market. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, China is the largest customer of Tokyo Electronics, a Japanese semiconductor giant. As of March this year, China accounted for 26% of the company's annual sales of chip manufacturing equipment. China is also the largest market for Japanese chip test equipment manufacturer Advantech. In the last fiscal year, orders from Chinese Mainland alone amounted to 189 billion yen, accounting for 27% of the company's total sales.

At present, there are unprecedented opportunities for a new round of industrial revolution and technological change. Only chip cooperation can serve the common interests of China and Japan. "Card" Chinese chip will only be a loss making business for Japan.

The abuse of export controls by the United States has already caused American semiconductor enterprises to suffer. The financial reports disclosed by the US listed companies show that a large number of US semiconductor enterprises have experienced a significant decline in recent revenue. Intel's revenue in the third quarter fell 20% year on year. Nvidia, a chip design company, said that US $400 million worth of Chinese orders could be lost due to export control measures. Doug Bettinger, chief financial officer of the semiconductor equipment supplier Fanlin Group, said at the quarterly report conference that the company had lost important customers in China, and "this situation will continue". The experience of the American industry fully shows that decoupling and chain breaking with China is not feasible and can not go far.

In retrospect, Japan was the last target of semiconductor blockade in the United States. The United States has never hesitated to draw on its allies for industrial repatriation.

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, in the 1970s and 1980s, Japan's semiconductor industry developed rapidly, once accounting for half of the global semiconductor industry chain, and the United States had a high trade deficit with Japan. In 1982, the US government arrested Hitachi and Mitsubishi employees for industrial espionage and accused them of stealing IBM's technology. It was later confirmed that this was the "fishing law enforcement" of the US against Japanese enterprises. During the US Japan trade war, the US forced Japan to sign the Plaza Agreement, and then forced Japan to sign the Japan US Semiconductor Agreement in 1986, which stipulated market share and price supervision. Since then, the United States has continuously imposed tariffs on Japanese chips, forcing Japan to open semiconductor technology patents. Japan's semiconductor industry has gradually lost its advantages under multiple rounds of attacks.

The familiar "moves" of economic coercion and the same "combined fist" of technical blockade, the "formula" that once worked in Japan's semiconductor industry, are still being followed by the United States, inviting former victims to put pressure on China together.

China is not Japan in those days, and the United States will not again impose economic coercion on China. At present, China has accelerated independent innovation and steadily improved its chip independent research and development capabilities. China has achieved pure localization of 14nm process mass production, and local chip manufacturers are striving to achieve more advanced process mass production. According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, in the first 11 months of this year, China imported 498.51 billion integrated circuits, a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%. The Japanese industry also has a clear understanding of this. Sony, NEC and other Japanese executives said recently that US export controls on China are unlikely to prevent the development of China's artificial intelligence, supercomputers and other fields, and the sanctions lack long-term effectiveness.

Both history and reality have shown that the technology blockade not only seriously deviates from international economic and trade principles, but also will hinder international scientific and technological exchanges and economic and trade cooperation, causing negative impacts on the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain and the global economic prosperity. It is necessary for Japan to make an independent and correct judgment from its own long-term interests and the interests of the international community.