Kishida urges US executives to boost tech investments in Japan

JAPANESE Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged American business executives to boost investment in Asia’s second-largest economy tied to key technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“We very much welcome US investments to Japan to nurture cooperation between the two nations on important emerging technologies,” Kishida said at the opening of a roundtable with US business leaders in Washington on Tuesday (Apr 9). “Your investments will enable Japan’s economic growth – which will also be capital for more investments from Japan to the US.”

Participants in the luncheon included Gary Cohn, vice-chairman at International Business Machines Corp, who served as chief economic adviser to former president Donald Trump, Pfizer chief executive officer Albert Bourla, Boeing Co’s defense chief Ted Colbert and Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.

Kishida met the group ahead of a summit with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday in which the two are expected to tout the strength of economic cooperation between the two allies. 

Japan continues to be the biggest investing nation in the US, having created more than one million jobs in America, Kishida said. He cited semiconductors as an area in which the two nations are boosting cooperation, with IBM helping Japan’s Rapidus to make advanced logic chips.

Japan’s economy is at an inflection point, with the central bank raising interest rates in March for the first time in 17 years and stocks hitting a record high, Kishida said.

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“I want to make this year a period when Japan can completely exit the mindset of deflation and cost cutting,” he said. “I’m strongly promoting policies towards the next economic stage so that people, goods and money will get moving firmly.” 

Kishida and business leaders also talked on the implications of US pause on approvals for new liquefied natural gas export facilities, an issue that poses risks to future supply to Japan, which is among the world’s top importers and highly reliant on the fuel.

Participants “discussed energy security and emphasised the importance of US LNG exports to Japan and other allies”, the US Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. 

Japan’s government has previously expressed concerned about Biden’s moratorium on new projects, and the nation’s Keidanren, a lobby group which includes Toyota Motor and Sony Group, has urged the US to reverse its decision. BLOOMBERG