Tag - manufacturing

 
 

MANUFACTURING

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.
TSMC and other leading-edge chipmakers are engaged in negotiations with the Commerce Department over a pool of about $28 billion in grants targeted for advanced factories.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
TSMC to win more than $5 billion in grants for U.S. chip plant
The move would mark a major milestone in U.S. President Joe Biden’s effort to revitalize American semiconductor manufacturing.
Nissan expects kei EV sales to expand, as kei cars are relatively inexpensive compared to regular cars and their size makes them suitable for short-distance trips.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 8, 2024
Nissan may bring ultra-compact EV production in-house from 2028, sources say
The automaker is considering moving production to its factory in Kyushu in the business year starting April 2028.
Vehicles on display at a Toyota car dealership in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2024
Toyota ups its bet on hybrids in Brazil with $2.2 billion plan
The firm will expand production capacity in Latin America’s largest economy for models that use hybrid-flex fuel technology.
TSMC's new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2024
Japan in the midst of a semiconductor plant construction rush
The government set aside ¥4 trillion between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2023 for subsidies for helping companies build semiconductor plants.
Japan's factory output in January fell at the fastest pace since May 2020 due to a drop in automobile-related production.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 29, 2024
Japan factory output falls at the fastest pace in nearly four years
A production downturn in motor vehicles is also adding to concerns about the fragility of an economy that slipped into recession late last year.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework launch event in Tokyo in May 2022.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2024
U.S.-led Indo-Pacific deal on supply chain resilience takes effect
The deal allows members to help each other secure critical items in times when supply chains are disrupted.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro, launched in August 2023 and powered by a sophisticated chip, was seen as a symbol of the China's technological resurgence despite Washington's ongoing efforts to cripple its capacity to produce advanced semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024
U.S. targets China chipmaking plant after Huawei Mate 60 Pro
The Biden administration seeks to cut off China's most advanced factory from more American imports after it produced a sophisticated chip for the phone.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s first Kumamoto plant in the town of Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 10
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2024
Japan boosts aid to chip projects amid global race
Prompted by concerns, the government acted swiftly to prevent the potential loss of domestic production bases.
Workers walk to a Daihatsu factory in the town of Oyamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture, on Monday as the firm resumed production at the facility.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2024
Daihatsu resumes production of two models at Kyoto plant
The Toyota subsidiary hopes to restart gradually but its domestic vehicle production schedule remains unclear.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in the town of Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May. The firm plans to build a second chip fabrication plant in the prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024
TSMC to build second chipmaking plant in Japan with partners
The facility will be close to the first TSMC plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Kikuyo.
The government will extend subsidies worth as much as ¥242.9 billion for Kioxia and Western Digital to expand memory chip production in Mie and Iwate prefectures.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 6, 2024
Japan extends subsidies to downturn-hit Kioxia and Western Digital
The funding provides underpinning for the two companies, which have been hammered by a slump in the market for NAND flash chips.
The Fugaku supercomputer at Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe in June 2020. Many companies leverage its simulation capabilities to streamline processes, saving labor on experiments and calculations crucial for the development of large products.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2024
Fugaku supercomputer tops predecessor in corporate usage
While Fugaku has primarily garnered attention for academic applications it has also proved instrumental in product development.
Toyota plans to shorten plant operating hours and review its product development plans, with tight schedules being partly blamed for the scandals involving group companies Daihatsu and Toyota Industries.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024
Toyota to shorten plants' maximum operating hours
The 30-minute reduction is aimed at giving workers a more flexible schedule following a series of certification irregularities at its group companies.
Industrial output in December rose a seasonally-adjusted 1.8% from the previous month, following a 0.9% decline in November, with the industry ministry maintaining its basic assessment that it is fluctuating indecisively.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 31, 2024
Japan’s factory output gains to support economy’s patchy rebound
The rebound may potentially remove a hurdle for the Bank of Japan as it mulls the timing of a likely interest rate hike.

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A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world