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Japanese Chip Makers to Unite
Doctor Memory writes "The Register reports that several Japanese semiconductor manufacturers (Toshiba, Hitachi and Renesas, and possibly NEC and Matsushita) are in talks to create a "semiconductor superpower" to counter rivals in Taiwan, the US and China. The firms are in talks to create a shared foundry, which might set the stage for the creation of a 45-nanometer process well in advance of the competition."
"Hitachi, Toshiba and Renesas today announced that they have initiated a joint study on the feasibility of an independent semiconductor foundry business offering advanced fabrication processes to which each of the companies could outsource fabrication."
If you create a company to make a product for you, shouldn't it be called insourcing ?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Not exactly unusual. Japanese have long been doing this. It is called Keiretsu.
First you have to assume that the products we receive now are of high quality. I personally don't use anything NEC branded in my machines. I have used Toshiba and have not found it to be the best. "Made in China/Japan" is already a phrase with a bad connotation (IMHO, I could be wrong). How much worse will it be if they are the only suppliers? The only way to gain profits then is: a) increase prices and b) decrease quality of product.
The prisoner of hope is sustained and encouraged by his hope, even as he is confined by it.
Japan is a signee to GATT. If the other nations see Japan price fixing and/or dumping (they can do both at the same time) the GATT says they can sue them in The World Court for damages and to abolish the anti-competitive action. Of course that takes years, in the meantime the other nations will erect tariffs/subsidies to protect thier own makers of such chips. This is NOT a smart move by the Japanese, sure it's radical but radical the wrong way.
"The firms are in talks to create a shared foundry, which might set the stage for the creation of a 45-nanometer process well in advance of the competition."
Does Brook's Law:
"Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"
not apply in the least bit to semiconductor shrinking?
That is an actual question, I'm not trying to make a point.
This is hardly a nail in our coffin. The US knows that monopolies are bad because they become lazy and charge high prices for crap. If anything, this will ruin the semiconducter economy in Japan as they become equated with bloated prices and shoddy work.
How would you feel if you heard that all the top semiconductor companies in the US were going to merge? Wouldn't your next reaction be something about monopolies and anti-trust? Wouldn't you expect to see higher prices for shoddier work? That's exactly what's going to happen in Japan. I assume the next step is to start using the Japanese government to enforce favorable trade controls to keep the conglomerate alive.
It's competition that keeps U.S. companies honest. If they can't compete, they go out of business, to be replaced by companies that can compete. In Japan (and to a large extend, Korea) mama government will start passing out welfare checks when national corporation X stops being profitable. (We'll see if China is going to behave the same. All predictions say "yes".)
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.