Economy
Nikkei learned of Japan’s plan to invest $5.5 billion in chip producers in the US
Mass chip producers in the US plan to start in the second half of this decade. The U.S. and Japan agreed to cooperate in the field in July.
Japan and the U.S. will create a joint research center for developing advanced 2-nanometer semiconductors by the end of the year, with the possibility of mass production by the second half of the decade. This was reported by Nikkei.
The US chip production costs are included in the budget bill for the current fiscal year. The bill provides for 450 billion yen ($3 billion) for the establishment of centers for advanced chip production in Japan and 370 billion yen ($2.5 billion) for supplying the production with necessary resources, particularly silicon wafers and silicon carbide.
Tokyo has approved subsidies for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Kioxia and Micron Technology to build semiconductor plants in Japan. The publication notes that the government supports the production of microchips in Japan not only because of the importance of semiconductors for economic security but also against the background of a significant depreciation of the yen, which makes investments more attractive.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to establish the research center in late July, at a meeting between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimas Hayashi. “As the world’s first and third largest economies, it is critical that we work together to protect the rules-based economic order,” Blinken pointed out. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who was present at the meeting, stressed that semiconductors are “the foundation of our economic and national security” for Washington.
Tokyo and Washington agreed in a joint statement to cooperate “to enhance supply chain sustainability in strategic sectors, including semiconductors, batteries and critical minerals, among others.”
U.S. authorities consider the expansion of semiconductor production a national security issue, particularly because of its need for weapons production. In early October, the administration of President Joe Biden imposed restrictions on the supply of semiconductors and equipment for the production of chips to China.
The export of products made with American technology for the production of calculations using artificial intelligence is possible only under a special license issued in Washington. Experts interviewed by the Financial Times felt that the restrictions would throw Chinese companies “back to the Stone Age”.
Earlier we reported that Western countries have agreed on the parameters of the price ceiling on Russian oil.
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.
With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.
China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.
The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.
“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.
The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.
($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
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