Japan Panel Calls for Medium-Term Chip Sector Aid Strategy

Tokyo, Nov. 1 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government needs a medium-term strategy for supporting the semiconductor industry, rather than ad hoc measures such as creating or adding to funds every time it compiles a supplementary budget, a finance ministry advisory panel said Friday.

The subcommittee of the Fiscal System Council proposed that the government provide efficient support over multiple years to the sector, which is growing in importance from the perspective of economic security.

The Japanese government has allocated some 3.9 trillion yen in its supplementary budgets over the past three years for aiding the chip industry. The amount is said to be sufficient, compared with those in the United States and European countries.

"The government needs to establish basic principles for semiconductor support, rank target projects based on priority and introduce third-party verification of effectiveness," Hiroya Masuda, acting head of the subcommittee, told reporters after the day's meeting.

Japanese products once accounted for half of the global semiconductor market, but now only about 10 pct.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]