Tag - manufacturing

 
 

MANUFACTURING

Towa’s compression molding equipment. The firm commands two-thirds of the world’s chip molding equipment market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2024
AI demand spurs 390% surge in Kyoto chip company’s stock price
A growing demand for AI technology has been a boon for Towa, a little-known company that makes an essential component.
The TSMC plant in Phoenix, Arizona. The chipmaker's projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with U.S. President Joe Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 9, 2024
TSMC gets $11.6 billion in U.S. grants and loans for chip plants
TSMC’s projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
A lone Tesla charges in the basement of a commercial property in Tokyo. One of Japan’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is subpar charging infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024
How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles
Japan's slow adoption traces back to a decade-old bet on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, while U.S. and South Korea have hit bottlenecks.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to TSMC's new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Saturday
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 7, 2024
TSMC’s first Japan plant to hit 60% local procurement by 2030
Japanese officials are hoping TSMC’s arrival will help boost local suppliers’ technology and business.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets China's Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guest House, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024
U.S. and China to start new talks on balanced growth, Yellen says
The top priority of her four day visit to China was to persuade Beijing to rein in excess production capacity for clean energy technology.
An Ariens Company employee works on the assembly line at the company's plant in Brillion, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 5, 2024
U.S. employment boom leaves factory workers behind
There is a stark contrast between U.S. factory employment and the four-year boom in the wider job market
Japan will provide ¥590 billion in additional subsidies to chip venture Rapidus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024
Japan approves extra ¥590 billion in aid to chip startup Rapidus
The additional funding will help Rapidus buy chipmaking equipment and also develop advanced back-end chipmaking processes.
Akira Amari, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, says Nippon Steel’s acquisition of United States Steel would help counter China’s dominance in steel-making.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2024
Japanese lawmaker says U.S. steel deal would help counter China risks
The $14.1 billion deal would be a win-win for both companies and both economies, said former minister Akira Amari.
Employees work at a factory that produces LED displays in Huaian, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 31, 2024
China factory activity expands for first time in six months
The official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.8 from 49.1 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement Sunday.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Works facility is seen in Braddock, Pennsylvania. A group of automakers have warned that a deal by steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs for U.S. Steel could "drive up the cost of both steel and e-steel, and ultimately increase the cost of finished vehicles (including EVs) for American consumers."
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 30, 2024
Automakers urge White House to oppose U.S. Steel sale to Cleveland-Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs has said it would consider another bid for U.S. Steel if the deal with Nippon Steel — opposed by President Joe Biden — falls apart.
Tesla Model 3 assembly line at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, in 2018. Before the Shanghai plant opened, Fremont was Tesla’s principal factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024
A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing.
Musk is now treading a fine line, sounding the alarm about Chinese rivals, even as he remains reliant on the Chinese market.
Visitors view a BYD Dolphin EV car at the 44th Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok in 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2024
Chinese EV makers to take center stage at Bangkok motor show
The popularity of Chinese EVs in Thailand underscores the growing challenge Japanese auto giants face in a vehicle market they have long dominated.
Takahiro Mori, Nippon Steel's executive vice president, said the company will move its U.S. headquarters to Pittsburgh if it succeeds in acquiring U.S. Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2024
Nippon Steel pledges to move U.S. HQ to U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh
The Japanese steelmaker will move its existing headquarters in the U.S., which is in Houston, in addition to keeping U.S. Steel's headquarters.
Japanese automakers explore a unified approach and industry consolidation to stay competitive in the global EV market.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2024
As China’s EVs approach, Japan’s carmakers must step on the gas
China sees an opportunity to dominate, and just as it did with sectors from steel to solar panels, it’s unlikely to always play fair.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 16, 2024
Top Biden official says stance on U.S. Steel deal doesn't hurt U.S.-Japan ties
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden's opposition to the U.S. Steel deal "doesn't take away one thing" from the relationship.
A U.S. flag flies near the United States Steel Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 16, 2024
U.S. Steel says Nippon Steel deal expected to close later this year
The filing with exchanges comes at a time when the Japanese firm's $14.9 billion deal to buy the 122-year-old U.S. steelmaker faces heightened scrutiny.
Makoto Uchida (left), president and CEO of Nissan, and Honda President Toshihiro Mibe give a joint news conference in Tokyo on Friday to announce a new strategic partnership in electric vehicles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2024
Nissan and Honda to explore electric vehicle partnership
Analysts said the move was aimed at catching up with Chinese rivals who have stolen a march in EVs while Japanese firms have lost ground.
A student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology looking at a printed circuit board in the school's lab in Hanoi.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 15, 2024
The Gen-Z students at the heart of Vietnam's chip plans
Long viewed as a low-cost destination to make clothes, shoes and furniture, the country is now eyeing a rapid climb up the global supply chain.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that United States Steel should be domestically owned, coming out against Nippon Steel's plan to acquire the company as support from labor unions is becoming more significant for his re-election bid.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2024
Nippon Steel determined to complete U.S. Steel deal
The firm has promised no layoffs or plant closures until at least September 2026.
Many countries including the U.S. and China are prioritizing domestic production and shortening supply chains to enhance economic self-reliance — but they are doing so at the  risk of fueling systemic instability and intensifying great-power tensions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2024
Economic self-reliance is a dangerous delusion
Countries around the world have given high priority to shortening supply chains, rebuilding domestic production capacity and diversifying suppliers.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?