Japan and the US Negotiating GlobalFoundries Chip Plant Worth $12.9bn to $19.3bn
According to a Nikkei Asia report on Thursday, Japan and the United States (explore this topic) are in discussions to establish a semiconductor factory as part of their $550 billion investment agreement.
The project, expected to cost between ¥2 trillion and ¥3 trillion ($12.9 billion to $19.3 billion), will be operated by US chipmaker GlobalFoundries, specializing in logic chips.
The $550 billion commitment was part of a trade agreement under which the US limited tariffs on most Japanese products to 15%. Japanese authorities select and fund projects, with the initial two installments totaling $109 billion allocated to oil, gas, minerals, nuclear power, and gas-fired power stations.
The funds have not yet been allocated to chips or AI, but Japan's trade minister previously stated these technologies would have "very significant weight" in upcoming projects.
The first chip project under the agreement will be operated by GlobalFoundries, producing mature and specialty logic chips for cars, phones, and industrial equipment, not advanced processors used to train AI models.
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