Japan: Japan 2nd Quad ally to ink chip pact with India – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Japan has become the second Quad partner after the US to sign an agreement with India for the joint development of the semiconductor ecosystem and maintain resilience of its global supply chain.
The agreement was signed between Union minister for electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw and Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry Yasutoshi Nishimura in the national capital on Thursday. “Japan and India have signed a memorandum for semiconductor design, manufacturing, equipment research, talent development and to bring resilience in thesemiconductor supply chain,” Vaishnaw said.
The nations will create an “implementation organisation” that will work on government-to-government and industry-to-industry cooperation, Vaishnaw added. “Everybody wants a resilient semiconductor supply chain and in this India and Japan are very important partners. This is in furtherance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US where many agreements were signed and that is reflecting in cooperation with other countries today. ” With around 100 semiconductor manufacturing plants, Japan is among the top five countries to have a semiconductor ecosystem. “Semiconductor industry will become a $1 trillion industry from $650 billion at present. This will require a huge amount of talents, significant growth at multiple locations in the world. Japan sees India as a partner. ”
The minister said that Japan houses companies that are global leaders in raw form of semiconductor wafers, chemical and gases, lenses that are used in chip manufacturing.
“If we can bring this base to India, it will be a big milestone,” Vaishnaw said, adding, the government has started discussion with Japan’s state-backed semiconductor industry body Rapidus for collaboration in the segment.