Japan subsidizes the Samsung chip plant. A source with direct knowledge of the situation said Japan is arranging subsidies of up to 15 billion yen ($110 million) for Samsung Electronics Co (005930. KS)’s proposed chip factory near Tokyo.
In late March, Reuters reported that Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip producer, would build the facility with its first chip packaging test line near its research and development center in Yokohama.
The IT firm’s investment would ease tensions between Japan and South Korea as the US wants its allies to work together to resist China’s growing semiconductor and technology power.
The source, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential, estimated that the facility would cost 40 billion yen to build, with the Japanese government subsidizing approximately a third.
According to Japan’s economy ministry, Samsung has not made a subsidy request.
Samsung denied any decision.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet with semiconductor executives, including Samsung, on Thursday to strengthen international cooperation.
Kishida visited South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul last month for the first time in 12 years, pledging to increase relations.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) (2330. TW), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, constructed a research center in Tsukuba city, northeast of Tokyo, last year for 37 billion yen, including 19 billion in Japanese government subsidies.
Rapidus, a Japanese chipmaker developing a facility on Hokkaido, received 260 billion yen in subsidies last month.
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