Samsung Said to Open Chip Development Unit in Japan

[TheLostSwede]

In a rather unexpected move, Samsung will reportedly open a chip development facility in Yokohama, Japan. According to the Nikkei, Samsung is readying a 30 billion yen or US$222 million investment near its current R&D institute in Japan. Samsung is hoping to be able to leverage a combination of Japanese and Korean expertise at the site, although exactly what kind of chip development that will take place at the site is currently unknown, beyond it being focused on the back-end processor of chip manufacturing. This generally involves the wafer packaging process or chip stacking, processes that have evolved a lot of the past few years.

The facility is said to be employing hundreds of people once it starts operating sometime in 2025. The Nikkei is also reporting that Samsung is hoping to take advantage of subsidies offered by the Japanese government, which might also be one of the reasons for opening the development unit in Japan. The subsidies are said to be in excess of 10 billion yen. Considering that Japan and Korea aren't on the best terms at the moment, for many reasons and most of them irrelevant to this news post, it's surprising to see Samsung making this move, as although it might be a fairly minor investment for the company, it's doing so on what could only be referred to as hostile soil.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Chry]

You got sauce for Japanese and korean relationships being tense atm?

Another factor to choose Japan: it being a R&D facility so it makes sense to establish it in a highly educated country.

 

[TheLostSwede]

You got sauce for Japanese and korean relationships being tense atm?

Another factor to choose Japan: it being a R&D facility so it makes sense to establish it in a highly educated country.

I suggest reading the news. It's been ongoing since before the pandemic.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Koreans just want to humiliate Japan on their own turf...
Oh, how the mighty (Japan) has fallen.

 

[Lianna]

I suggest reading the news. It's been ongoing since before the pandemic.

AFAIK, apparently no longer since March visit of Korea's president in Japan, when he told about his favorite dish being omurice; now Korea and Japan are BFFs. Japan was even to stop its famous export controls of ultra-pure substances to Korea, so I would think this news is the logical consequence. Anyone knows the details how it went after that? Unfortunately news (especially economic ones) from that region is very underrepresented where I live

 

[waitingmoon]

As semiconductor miniaturization approaches its limits, the materials sector is becoming increasingly important, and TSMC opened a development center in Japan last year.
Prime Minister Kishida recently visited South Korea and met with economic officials. Relations are improving.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/a_o/na/kr/page1_001660.html

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Well. At least when Samsung says they have to halt production and bump up prices x1000000% because of a Tsunami or earthquake wrecking their shit. You know its completely legit.

 

[TechLurker]

This is probably both for political and business reasons.

On the business side, SK is still not a preferential partner after having been dropped, and it'll take a few years before Japan puts them back on the list. For the time being, the export ban is gone and SK will get the much-needed resources critical to chip production again, although at higher cost. For Japan, this is a high-visibility move that could see a revival in their own in-country chip development capabilities, since IIRC, part of their subsidies is that tech companies will need to open a facility in Japan, and hire and train Japanese. Critically for interested players, this could be one way of working out favors for deals on the 3 critical chemicals needed in chip production, since Japan provides around 70-90% of the world's supply. Specifically:

Japan produces around 90% of the world’s supply of fluorinated polyimide and resists, and about 70% of hydrogen fluoride. Japan’s global dominance of those chemicals will make it difficult for South Korean companies to source for alternatives when their supplies are disrupted by Tokyo’s exports curbs.

Per CNBC on the Export Ban in 2019.

On the political side, this is a plain win for Japan. A big-name tech company is setting up shop (moreso from a legacy rival nation), with others to potentially follow, and South Korea suspended their demands that led to a trade ban in the first place in order to save their own tech companies (which are very influential, unlike Japanese tech companies since the shift from Zaibatsus to Keiretsus). For South Korea though; it's considered a loss. While they did save their tech companies from shrinking production due to a lack of rare chemicals, they had to basically accept the current US/Japanese position on past reparations.

 

[Minus Infinity]

We need Japan to get back into the fab space and give TSMC more competition, not just Samsung. Korea and Japan cooperating seems like a good play to me. Already Japanese company is aiming to take on TSC within 5-6 years. I know talk is cheap, but at least there is movement in this area in Japan.