Japanese Unveil Plan to Expand Chip Purchases : Technology: The 10-point proposal is designed to help smaller firms get a higher share of Japan’s microchip market.
Japanese microchip makers unveiled a plan Tuesday to help smaller foreign firms sell chips here, trying to extend the recent success bigger firms have had in selling to Japan.
The 10-point outline by the Electronic Industries Assn. of Japan offers few new ideas. But it does endorse for the first time some of the cooperative measures that have helped large firms gain access to the market.
“Up until now it has been the big companies that have expanded their market shares. We must broaden this to include small- and medium-sized firms,” Akio Tanii, president of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., told reporters.
The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Assn., due to debate the proposal Tuesday, has in the past said access in Japan has improved for bigger firms with the money and manpower to muscle into the world’s most competitive market.
But it complained that smaller foreign firms still faced discrimination.
“This is good news. They are making it easier for smaller firms to get over here,” said David Hytha, managing director of AT&T; Microelectronics, a division of AT&T; Japan Ltd., a wholly owned unit of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
But Hytha added that improved access by smaller firms would do little to boost the foreign share of Japan’s market, now at 12.0%, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics data quoted by the EIAJ.
“It’s a red herring because the companies with a presence here already represent 80% of the sales of U.S. companies,” said Hytha, who is also chairman of the Japan chapter of the U.S. SIA.
The new plan lists steps Japanese firms could take to boost their sales to smaller companies. These include:
- Disclosing technical information to help foreign companies design useful microchips.
- Marketing foreign chips through their own distribution channels.
- Furthering technical assistance such as joint ventures and technology transfers.
