Japan shuns the market with chip firm nationalization

TOKYO – JSR, one of the world’s two leading producers of photoresists for the semiconductor industry, will be bought out by the government-controlled Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) and delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The strategic state purchase, announced at 909.3 billion yen (US$6.4 billion) on June 26, comes as Japan moves more closely in line with US restrictions on exporting high-end chips and chip-making equipment to China.

Photoresists, the light-sensitive materials used to form circuit patterns on silicon and other types of wafers during the photo-lithographic process, are key components in chip-making supply chains.