Japan government ready to pay for chip factory in Japan

TOKYO - Japan's TSMC and Japan’s Sony Group Corp (Spoiler) are considering jointly building a chip factory in Japan, with the government ready to pay for some of the investment of about 800 billion yen $7.15 billion on Friday, the Nikkei reported.

The plant in Kumamoto, southern Japan, is expected to produce semiconductors for automobiles, camera image sensors and other products which have been hit by a global chip shortage, and is likely to start operations by 2024, the report said.

Both TSMC and Sony declined to comment. TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker and major supplier of Apple Inc., had said in July that it was reviewing a plan to set up production in Japan.

TSMC has been concerned about the concentration of chipmaking capability in Taiwan, which produces the majority of the world's most advanced chips. China does not rule out the use of force to bring democratic island under its control.