IEF: Japan can rise again, says exec
By Peter Clarke, EE Times -- EDN, October 10, 2011
SEVILLE, Spain—The Japanese semiconductor industry, which has been in decline for more than 20 years, needs to select key technology areas and refocus to rise again, Junshi (JJ) Yamaguchi, former chairman of chip company Renesas Electronics Corp, told the International Electronics Forum.
Yamaguchi, who now serves as special advisor to Renesas and as chairman of the Japan Semiconductor Industry Association, indicated that the tragedy of the great Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 could yet prove to be a turning point for the country and its remaining chip manufacturers.
He opened his presentation by painting a picture of the decline of the Japanese chip industry as a percentage of the global output. This went from 51 percent in 1988 to 44 percent in 1994 to 29 percent in 1998 and to just 20 percent in 2010, he said.
Yamaguchi explained the key events that prompted the decline.
In the 1970s Japan had decided to invest in DRAM production. Increasing sales of personal computers in the 1980s drove DRAM consumption resulting in high volumes and revenues for numerous Japanese chip companies.
The turning point was political intervention by the United States that led to the signing of the US-Japan Semiconductor Agreement in 1988. Under the agreement, Japan agreed to not sell DRAMs at below cost and raise the US market share in the Japanese chip market from the prevailing 10 percent to 20 percent. "Limits on Japanese capex and imports helped create South Korea as a force [in DRAMs and semiconductors]," said Yamaguchi.
However, Japan continued to be too conservative, Yamaguchi said. Its
problems continued when, having been largely forced out of DRAMs, it
stayed focused on ASIC production for too long. "In the 2000s there was a
strong market for SOCs; that is ASSPs rather than ASICs." During this
time there was rapid growth in foundry.
The declining global market share in Japan.
"Japan has to change," Yamaguchi said. And he sees some evidence for that happening, starting with the response to the earthquake and tsunami that devastated his country.
"Renesas made an incredible effort to recover its manufacturing within three months, not six or nine months." He said this shows what can be achieved when people come together on a mission and are prepared to work weekdays and weekends until the goal is achieved.
Japanese companies still have a commanding position in some sectors, so the country needs to focus on microcontrollers, NAND flash memory, and CMOS sensors, Yamaguchi said.
With much of the global economic growth nearby in Asia, Japan is well placed to compete in the many applications that will demand hardware and software solutions; things like mobile consumer electronics and sustainable and energy-related development, healthcare and security.
"We had a lot of issues in our past but we have recognized where we should go!" Yamaguchi concluded.
This story was originally posted by EE Times.
-
Rather than blaming it all on the US, he should look to Japan's historic and continuing difficulty in inventing and designing larger and more complex systems than DRAMs--namely microprocessors, DSPs, etc. DRAMS were commoditized but Japan was, and still seems to be,unable to move on to the next level of design. Sensors and ASICs are just more of the DRAM thing--masses of identical devices requiring little design and his looking to these devices for the future shows that some Japanese managers still do not understand their problem.
ecdy - 2011-11-10 07:23:39 PDT -
In summary, he said the reason Japan lost their leadership position is because America said they had to stop dumping their product at below manufacturing cost. I don't have a problem with that. If anyone can manufacture cheaper without endangering others via poor quality of product or abuse of workers or environment, let them. But taking a temporary loss to manipulate the market and drive others out so that one can later increase the price above market value ought be stopped.
DW - 2011-11-10 06:11:42 PDT -
I am not convinced that "Japan should be squished like a bug", I consider that to be very extreme.
However, when a previous employer attempted to ram Japanese business culture into our organization, I found it quite an uncomfortable situation. I advocate a lot of the "live and let live" attitude, and consider that others may be OK, but different from me. BUT as an American, I find that an amount of personal freedom that is quite a bit more than the culture imposed on us, is what I value and feel comfortable with. So I am hoping that Japan can again rise to the level of being able to be a co-worker, but not to the level of "running the show." I believe that many of us would find that uncomfortble.
William Ketel - 2011-10-10 19:22:05 PDT -
Japan should be squashed like a bug. They are holding thousands of abducted children from all over the world. Japan sanctions international child abduction!
See: www.Bachome.org Boycott all Japanese products now!
Rest of the Story - 2011-10-10 14:33:31 PDT
