Japanese government funds are expected to help Micron’s factory in Hiroshima produce more advanced chips to power AI and quantum workloads. Credit: Micron The Japanese government on Tuesday said that it had invested $1.3 billion in Micron’s Hiroshima factory as subsidy for manufacturing more advanced chips that support or power AI and quantum workloads. The investment is expected to cover the cost of installing ASML Holding’s extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment at the factory, according to a Bloomberg report. Lithography machines are used to draw patterns on silicon chips using light, and Dutch company ASML Holdings is one of the top producers of these lithography machines. The Japanese government’s investment in Micron covers almost 40% of the company’s planned capital infusion in Japan and is aimed at securing a strong supply of advanced chips for the future, the report cited Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura as saying. The capital injection into Micron comes at a time when the US-headquartered firm is facing a probe from Chinese regulators as a result of the ongoing chip war between the US and China, threatening to put majority of the company’s sales in the Asian market at risk. Micron attracted the ire of the Chinese government after the US, in January, convinced the Netherlands and Japan to join it in expanding the ban on exports of chip-making technology to China. The US first imposed restrictions on exports of chips to China in 2015, extending them in 2021 and twice in 2022. The most recent restrictions were introduced in December. US lawmakers have also been urging the Biden administration to take more action to impede China’s progress in gaining dominance in areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The suggestions included imposing trade restrictions on Chinese memory chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies as a counteroffensive to China’s ban on the use of Micron’s chips. In addition to the $1.3 billion investment, the Japanese government has set aside a sum of $1.11 billion and $170 million to help Micron cover production and development costs for the advanced chips, respectively, according to the Bloomberg report. Related content how-to Compressing files using the zip command on Linux The zip command lets you compress files to preserve them or back them up, and you can require a password to extract the contents of a zip file. By Sandra Henry-Stocker May 13, 2024 4 mins Linux news High-bandwidth memory nearly sold out until 2026 While it might be tempting to blame Nvidia for the shortage of HBM, it’s not alone in driving high-performance computing and demand for the memory HPC requires. By Andy Patrizio May 13, 2024 3 mins CPUs and Processors High-Performance Computing Data Center opinion NSA, FBI warn of email spoofing threat Email spoofing is acknowledged by experts as a very credible threat. By Sandra Henry-Stocker May 13, 2024 3 mins Linux how-to Download our SASE and SSE enterprise buyer’s guide From the editors of Network World, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps network and security IT staff understand what Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Secure Service Edge) SSE can do for their organizations and how to choose the right solut By Neal Weinberg May 13, 2024 1 min SASE Remote Access Security Network Security PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe