Manufacturing
Attractive Markets

Japan's semiconductor shipment value experienceブラック ジャック ストラテジー significant increase from 2020 to 2022.³⁷ In response to this increase, the Japanese government aims to raise the total revenue of domestic semiconductor companies to over 99.09 billion USD* (15 trillion JPY) by 2030. It also plans to secure an additional 79.27 billion USD* (12 trillion JPY) in public and private investment by the same year. ³⁸

In 2023, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) revised the Strategy for Semiconductors and the Digital Industry to reflect advancements in information processing and communication technologies, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The updated strategy focuses on three key areas: strengthening the production base for IoT semiconductors, establishing next-generation semiconductor technologies through Japan-US cooperation, anブラック ジャック ストラテジーdvancing future technologies through global partnerships. As part of its global R&D efforts, the next generation semiconductor project was launched. Two key facilities are planned to be constructed under the project: an open R&D center focused on advanced design and cutting-edge technology for devices and materials, anブラック ジャック ストラテジー production facility focused on future high-volume manufacturing. The project will involve collaboration with international research institutions and companies, with the aim of both innovative R&ブラック ジャック ストラテジーnd the creation of scalable manufacturing infrastructure.³⁹

Additionally, the Japanese government is promoting global cooperation as well as enacting policies to promote investment from foreign-affiliated companies.These policies include assistance with plans to establish and equip advanced semiconductor production facilities and related manufacturing operations. As of October 2023, the total maximum grant amount has reacheブラック ジャック ストラテジーpproximately 5.15 billion USD* (780 billion JPY). This support applies to the Japanese branches of overseas companies, such as TSMC (Taiwan), Western Digital (United States), and Micron Technology (United States) as well. The expansion of TSMC in Kumamoto Prefecture is predicted to have an economic impact of approximately 45.58 billion USD* (6.9 trillion JPY) on the electronic device industry over the next ten years, demonstrating the significant impact of this project.⁴⁰ In addition, METI is considering supporting PSMC (Taiwan), a major semiconductor manufacturer, in establishing a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Miyagi Prefecture. This support will address PSMC's needs for production infrastructure development and workforce training.⁴¹

The Japanese government is also undertaking a project to establish a short TAT mass production infrastructure for next-generation semiconductors. Under this project, the government is establishing an R&D center (LSTC, Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center) for advanced design along with technologies related to advanced equipment and materials, anブラック ジャック ストラテジー manufacturing center (Rapidus) to establish a mass-production system in the future. R&D is carried out not only in Japan but also in collaboration with overseas research institutions and companies. For example, Rapidus in Japan has signeブラック ジャック ストラテジー joint development partnership and Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with IBM (United States), Imec (Belgium), and Tenstorrent (Canada). Such cooperation with overseas academic and research institutions and companies is expected to continue in the future.⁴²

In addition to the technological cooperation support mentioned earlier, the Japanese government is strengthening its efforts to attract major overseas semiconductor companies such as TSMC to enhance the domestic semiconductor supply chain. In May 2023, the then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held discussions with senior executives of leading global semiconductor companies, encouraging them to invest ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan, aiming for the revitalization of Japan’s semiconductor industry and expressing his commitment to support the semiconductor industry and to help stabilize global supply chains. ⁴³

In response to the Japanese government's initiatives to encourage entry into the domestic semiconductor market, several foreign-affiliated companies have initiated plans to establish new manufacturing facilities. For example, Micron Technology has announceブラック ジャック ストラテジーn investment of up to 3.3 billion USD* (500 billion JPY) to expand its manufacturing facility in Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture.⁴⁴ PSMC and SBI Holdings (Japan) have formeブラック ジャック ストラテジー partnership to establish a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Sendai.⁴⁵ In addition, IC LAYOUT DESIGN TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION (Taiwan), a semiconductor design company, establisheブラック ジャック ストラテジーts Japanese subsidiary, Golden Layout Technology Japan, in Kanagawa Prefecture under the prefecture's Select Kanagawa NEXT business attraction initiative.⁴⁶

The Japanese government is strongly encouraging foreign investment by providing various incentives to expand the semiconductor market. These initiatives provide an excellent opportunity for overseas semiconductor companies to establish manufacturing facilities ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan.

Japan is a leading producer in the industrial robot market, with a 46% share of the global market. In 2022, the number of industrial robots installeブラック ジャック ストラテジーn Japan was 50,413, up 9% year-on-year and surpassing the pre-pandemic record of 49,908 in 2019.⁴⁷

To further strengthen Japan's leadership in industrial robots, the Japanese government set milestones for moonshot goal 3 in 2020. This initiative supports research and development aimeブラック ジャック ストラテジーt creating robots that can learn, act autonomously, and coexist with humans, by 2050 through the co-evolution of AI and robotics (Figure 10). Traditionally, industrial robotics has focused on automation and productivity in manufacturing. Moonshot goal 3 focuses on integrating technologies and ideas to improve the capabilities, safety, anブラック ジャック ストラテジーdaptability of industrial robots.

Furthermore, Japan's declining birthrate anブラック ジャック ストラテジーn aging population are leading to labor shortages in the manufacturing sector.⁴⁹ As a result, the demand for AI-driven industrial robots to replace human workers in factories and production facilities is likely to increase. This trend presents significant opportunities for overseas industrial robot companies to enter the Japanese market.

ABB (Switzerland) is an example of a foreign-affiliated company ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan that has successfully entered the Japanese market in response to the growing demand for industrial robots. ABB employs approximately 600 people ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan and operates a sales and service network with 13 locations.⁵⁰ The company has previously collaborated with Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan) to share knowledge and promote the use of dual-arm collaborative robots.⁵¹

Partnerships between Japanese and foreign-affiliated companies ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan are also progressing in the implementation of digital twins for production line visualization in the manufacturing sector. For example, a collaboration between Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Microsoft (United States) has enabled the remote operation of robots using digital twin technology.⁵² Such examples illustrate how foreign-affiliated companies ブラック ジャック ストラテジーapan are increasingly adopting digital twin platforms, including metaverse technologies, to enhance simulation capabilities for manufacturing processes.

The number of successful cases of collaboration between foreign-affiliateブラック ジャック ストラテジーnd Japanese companies, similar to the ones mentioneブラック ジャック ストラテジーbove, is slated to increase with the Japanese government actively encouraging investment in the industrial robotics sector.

The automobile industry holds a significant position in Japan's manufacturing sector. In 2022, Japan ranked thirブラック ジャック ストラテジーn the worlブラック ジャック ストラテジーn automobile production volume with 7.84 million units, positioning Japan as a major automobile production base in the Asia-Pacific region next to China.⁵³ The value of manufactured goods shipments from the automobile manufacturing industry in FY 2021 increased 5.5% from the previous year to approximately 372.57 billion USD* (56.4 trillion JPY), accounting for 17.1% of the total value of manufactured goods shipped by the entire manufacturing sector. Capital expenditures for automobile manufacturing in FY 2021 were approximately 9.25 billion USD* (1.4 trillion JPY), and R&D expenditures were approximately 23.78 billion USD* (3.6 trillion JPY). Additionally, the number of people employeブラック ジャック ストラテジーn the automobile industry was 5.54 million (about 8% of the total population), indicating that the automobile industry has a significant impact on the Japanese economy. In terms of trade, both exports anブラック ジャック ストラテジーmports have been on an increasing trend since 2021, exceeding the pre-pandemic level despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the depreciation of the Japanese Yen (Figure 11).

The Japanese government is actively working to promote decarbonization anブラック ジャック ストラテジーutonomous driving in the automobile industry to further secure Japan's advantage. In June 2021, the government revised the Green Growth Strategy Through Achieving Carbon Neutrality in 2050 to promote the decarbonization of the automobile industry, setting forth a strategy to promote the electrification of automobiles. As part of the strategy, the government plans to install 150,000 charging stations, including 30,000 quick chargers for public use, with the aim of achieving the convenience level of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030 at the latest. Additionally, to accelerate the spread of charging infrastructure, the government plans to begin the installation of between 100,000 and 200,000 units of charging facilities for electric vehicles in new apartment buildings by 2030.⁵⁵

With regards to autonomous driving, OEM manufacturers are developing Level 3 autonomous driving (conditional autonomous driving), and the government has starteブラック ジャック ストラテジーnitiatives to introduce Level 4 autonomous driving (fully autonomous driving under certain conditions). Demand for autonomous driving is higher in rural areas than in urban areas due to the aging population, the lack of public transportation, and the shortage of taxi drivers. In addition, 5G networks are spreading rapidly in the rural areas of Japan, anブラック ジャック ストラテジーt is estimated that the Japanese market is in a position where the spread of autonomous driving is feasible not only in urban areas but also in rural areas.⁵⁶ One example is RoAD to the L4, a joint project between METI and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to develop anブラック ジャック ストラテジーmplement advanced mobility services such as Level 4 autonomous driving. The goal of this project is to expand the areas and vehicles that can support autonomous driving and to provide autonomous driving services at 50 locations by FY 2025. The initiative is not limited to urban areas, but is also being developeブラック ジャック ストラテジーn rural areas such as Eiheiji in Fukui Prefecture.⁵⁷ As of February 2024, 26 prefectures, including urban and rural areas, are predicted to be able to provide autonomous mobile services in FY 2025.⁵⁸

Decarbonization anブラック ジャック ストラテジーutonomous driving are the major trends in the Japanese automobile industry and the government is actively supporting policies in both these fields. As a result of these efforts, overseas companies specializing in decarbonization anブラック ジャック ストラテジーutonomous driving are expected to find it easier to enter the Japanese market.

Japan's space industry was worth 26.42 billion USD* (4 trillion JPY) in 2020 ⁵⁹ , anブラック ジャック ストラテジーts aerospace industry production value in 2021 ranked sixth among major countries, excluding the EU as a whole.⁶⁰ Under the Basic Plan on Space Policy by the Cabinet Office, the government and private sectors are working together to expand the space industry's market size to 52.85 billion USD* (8 trillion JPY) by 2030. ⁶¹

The Japanese government is trying to strengthen its domestic space industry and focusing on partnerships with overseas private companies to ensure international competitiveness. As part of these efforts, METI matches Japanese SMEs with overseas companies and supports product development and new business transactions.⁶² In addition, Space Port Japan was establisheブラック ジャック ストラテジーn 2018 with the aim to open a spaceport in Japan, anブラック ジャック ストラテジーts main activities include information exchange and cooperation with related companies, both in Japan and overseas, along with the creation of business opportunities.⁶³

Private space cooperation between Japan and other countries is also advancing at a fast pace. An example is the partnership between SKY Perfect JSAT (Japan), the largest satellite communications company in Asia, and Thales Alenia Space (France), a leading telecommunications and space exploration company, for the construction of JSAT-31, a new-generation software-defined satellite.⁶⁴

In this way, with the support of the Japanese government and cooperation with overseas companies, including overseas satellite carriers, the Japanese aerospace market is attracting increasing attention anブラック ジャック ストラテジーs set to grow further in the future.