2023-06-29 07:43:23
Many countries are engaged in a frantic race in the electronic chip industry, which has become a title of international competition, as any country seeking to possess advanced technological, industrial and military capabilities must control the production of electronic chips.
Hence, countries are trying not to waste any opportunity that allows them to lead the scene in the chip industry, even if it requires mobilizing all national resources, to achieve this strategic goal, and this is what the Japanese government did a few days ago, announcing its plan to acquire the Japanese company JSR Corp. The world leader in the production of materials and compounds, which play a decisive role in the manufacture and production of chips.
Control of the company in a $6 billion deal
The Japanese government, through its backed Investment Fund (JIC), which is overseen by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, is seeking direct control of JSR Corp in a deal worth up to $6.35 billion, which represents a significant premium to JSR Corp’s market capitalization. amounting to $ 4.7 billion, recorded hours before the acquisition offer was announced.
Shares of JSR Corp rose more than 20 percent following the takeover offer was announced on Monday, with the hope that the deal, which has been approved by the company’s board of directors, will be concluded pending shareholder approval in a tender offer by the end of 2023.
Photoresist manufacturer
Founded in 1957, JSR Corp. is a world leader in the manufacture of photoresists, or photoresists, and one of three Japanese companies that dominate the world’s supply of fluorinated polyimide and hydrogen fluoride.
JSR has regarding 30 percent of the global market share of photoresists, a light-sensitive material used in photolithography and photogravure, a process crucial to the electronics industry.
As for fluorinated polyimides and hydrogen fluoride, they are essential materials for making semiconductors, as they are used in the process of printing designs on electronic chips.
Strategic investment
The Japanese government believes that its acquisition of JSR Corp is a strategic investment that will give it greater influence in the world of technology, as the country seeks to revive the semiconductor industry, to support economic security.
Communications engineer Issa Saad El-Din said, in an interview with Sky News Arabia, that what the Japanese government did, through the Investment Fund (JIC), was a surprising step, and came within the approach of “technological protectionism”, which is adopted by an increasing number of governments in The world, where the Japanese state seeks to make the most of the elements of its strength, and raise its position as a supplier of materials and technology needed by the chip industry.
He pointed out that the Japanese government, through this strategic deal, would have removed the risk of acquiring JSR Corp from external parties, and reserved for itself the ability to control industrial materials that countries are eager to own.
According to Saad El-Din, chip manufacturing materials are one of the “hidden” strengths in which countries are trying to acquire a share, and this prompted the JIC fund to describe it as the “lifeline” of the industry, as electronic chips are linked to every corner of the modern economy, prompting the government Japanese, for the initiative and control of the technological treasure it owns, before another party does this.
He added that controlling JSR Corp means controlling the materials necessary to make semiconductors, used in phones, computers, artificial intelligence systems, the military industry, and many other devices.
Legacy since the eighties
For his part, an information technology engineer, Muhammad Al-Shami, said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia Economy” that Japan has a market share in a number of materials that are not known to many, but they are basic materials in the process of producing electronic chips and the semiconductor industry.
He added that this legacy has been led by the country since the eighties through private companies, but the acquisition of JSR Corp means that from now on the government will have a direct say in decisions related to parties that have the ability to obtain these materials from foreign companies and countries.
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The takeover does not comfort some countries
Al-Shami explains that materials related to the manufacture of semiconductors are becoming increasingly important as a matter of national security, and therefore, geopolitically, this acquisition would put some countries such as China and even South Korea in an uncomfortable position.
He explained that JSR Corp controls part of the global supply of fluorinated polyimide and hydrogen fluoride, and it supplies Chinese, American and South Korean companies with these materials, and therefore any decision that the Japanese government may take in this regard may slow down the ability of the rest of the parties to compete in the chip industry. And semi-connectors, especially China, which has become in tense relations with Japan, which sided with the American side, in decisions related to preventing Beijing from accessing advanced technology in the chip industry.
Al-Shami believes that the Japanese government has become aware of the elements of strength it possesses, and this is what made it pay 6.3 billion dollars, before the secrets of this industry turned to another side, at a time when countries are racing to spend more money, to achieve gains that enable them to lead the market in this field. The field, describing what happened as part of the “protectionist wave” that is sweeping the various countries of the world, which will continue in the next stage, especially in the chip industry, as each party seeks to control whatever materials and information it can, related to an industry that is considered the pillar of digital industries in the world. .
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