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."

Comments

Hardly

[jgardn]

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".)