Can Japan Be the World’s Tech Giant Again?

Rather than the more recent editions of tech upheaval—like artificial intelligence today or mobile phones a few decades ago—the original revolution of modern electronic technology took place in the 1980s, and it was led by a country whose manufacturing and technical prowess were unmatched. That country is Japan.

The Asian nation led the world when it came to making semiconductors, the heart of most everything with a battery or a plug that litters the modern day landscape. But when the dotcom bubble burst, Japan quickly found itself left behind as other nations, from Taiwan to South Korea, took the lead. On this episode of the Bloomberg Originals series Momentum, we see how Japan is attempting to reboot its chip industry.

Spearheaded by giants and startups alike, Japan’s bid to catch its rivals involves a lot of government help, including massive chipmaking subsidies that dwarf those of the US and Germany.

The country is making a $67 billion bet on becoming a global chip powerhouse. And that effort doesn’t aim to simply achieve parity: Japan is hoping to leapfrog generations of innovation and land at the front of the line. It’s doing so by partnering with the biggest semiconductor company out there.