February 17 & 19, 2025
The government supports the cutting-edge semiconductor maker Rapidus Corporation with an unprecedented amount of subsidies, supposedly because it intends to respond to the U.S. expectation to use Rapidus-made chips for U.S. weapons. This came out in the recent Diet questioning made by Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Tatsumi Kotaro.
Tatsumi, at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 14, brought up the government’s financial support, amounting to two trillion yen, to Rapidus.
Stating, “For what reason does the government provide such a huge amount of financial aid to the chip maker?”, the JCP lawmaker cited the U.S. Department of Defense Industrial Capabilities Report for FY 2021. He said that the report regarded the dependence on Taiwan in the supply chain for advanced semiconductors used in U.S. military weapons as a risk and suggested the joint manufacturing of those products with Japan.
Tatsumi referred to talks held between a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a Pentagon official in October 2022, and asked if they discussed the military use of Rapidus-made chips. METI Minister Muto Yoji in response said that the ministry official visited the DoD as part of meetings aimed at exchanging views on the two nations’ semiconductor policies.
Tatsumi pointed to the fact that the METI official after the talks said that the ministry will seek to firmly meet the DoD’s expectations expressed in their talks. In addition, the JCP lawmaker noted that Rapidus Chairman Higashi Tetsuro in his lecture in 2023 stated that his company will provide the U.S. with semiconductors which play an important part in the field of national defense. Tatsumi stressed that this remark coincided with the METI policy to “firmly meet the DoD’s expectations”.
He pointed out that the DoD’s annual report states, “In addition, all DoD applications have low production volumes in comparison to commercial applications, such as cellular communications. DoD-unique requirements and associated low volumes de-incentivizes companies from producing microelectronics for DoD.”
He said that it is unacceptable for the government to use Japanese tax revenues to help Rapidus become a DoD supplier for military-use semiconductors which U.S. makers are unwilling to produce themselves. He added that it is also unacceptable for the government to purchase a huge amount of U.S. weapons equipped with Rapidus-made chips.
Rapidus was established in August 2022 with the support of eight major companies, including Toyota, NTT, Sony, NEC, Soft Bank, and MUFG Bank.
Akahata on February 17 reported that the eight companies between 2021 and 2023 made over 410 million yen in political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party’s political fund management organization “People’s Political Association”. For example, Toyota offered 15 million yen in political donations and Sony 55 million yen.
Past related articles:
> Kishida gov’t supports semiconductor maker as part of its policy to turn Japan into war-fighting nation [April 3, 2024]
> Japanese cutting-edge chips are likely to be used in US weapons: Industry Ministry [September 30, 2023]
Tatsumi, at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 14, brought up the government’s financial support, amounting to two trillion yen, to Rapidus.
Stating, “For what reason does the government provide such a huge amount of financial aid to the chip maker?”, the JCP lawmaker cited the U.S. Department of Defense Industrial Capabilities Report for FY 2021. He said that the report regarded the dependence on Taiwan in the supply chain for advanced semiconductors used in U.S. military weapons as a risk and suggested the joint manufacturing of those products with Japan.
Tatsumi referred to talks held between a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a Pentagon official in October 2022, and asked if they discussed the military use of Rapidus-made chips. METI Minister Muto Yoji in response said that the ministry official visited the DoD as part of meetings aimed at exchanging views on the two nations’ semiconductor policies.
Tatsumi pointed to the fact that the METI official after the talks said that the ministry will seek to firmly meet the DoD’s expectations expressed in their talks. In addition, the JCP lawmaker noted that Rapidus Chairman Higashi Tetsuro in his lecture in 2023 stated that his company will provide the U.S. with semiconductors which play an important part in the field of national defense. Tatsumi stressed that this remark coincided with the METI policy to “firmly meet the DoD’s expectations”.
He pointed out that the DoD’s annual report states, “In addition, all DoD applications have low production volumes in comparison to commercial applications, such as cellular communications. DoD-unique requirements and associated low volumes de-incentivizes companies from producing microelectronics for DoD.”
He said that it is unacceptable for the government to use Japanese tax revenues to help Rapidus become a DoD supplier for military-use semiconductors which U.S. makers are unwilling to produce themselves. He added that it is also unacceptable for the government to purchase a huge amount of U.S. weapons equipped with Rapidus-made chips.
Rapidus was established in August 2022 with the support of eight major companies, including Toyota, NTT, Sony, NEC, Soft Bank, and MUFG Bank.
Akahata on February 17 reported that the eight companies between 2021 and 2023 made over 410 million yen in political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party’s political fund management organization “People’s Political Association”. For example, Toyota offered 15 million yen in political donations and Sony 55 million yen.
Past related articles:
> Kishida gov’t supports semiconductor maker as part of its policy to turn Japan into war-fighting nation [April 3, 2024]
> Japanese cutting-edge chips are likely to be used in US weapons: Industry Ministry [September 30, 2023]
