Can an island of flowers become a global chip hub?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Forty years ago Japan made more than half of the world's semiconductors. Today, it produces just over 10%. But the country has big ambitions to turn that around.
We hear from the CEO of a company at the centre of the government's high-stakes gamble to revive its semiconductor industry, and more broadly, its tech power.
And we'll learn how the island of Hokkaido is now the site of billions in investment to turn what has long been an agricultural powerhouse into a global chip manufacturing hub.
If you'd like to contact the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Suranjana Tewari Producer: Jaltson Akkanath Chummar
(Picture: A lavender field and colourful flower garden in Hokkaido, Japan. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.7 | Hello, welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Sura and Jonathan |
| 0:15.0 | Thawari. Today, Japan's bid to turn an island of flowers into a global chip-up. |
| 0:22.6 | The island of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands, has long been an agricultural powerhouse. |
| 0:28.6 | Now the government is investing billions to turn it into a global hub for advanced semiconductors. |
| 0:34.6 | It's part of Japan's boldest industrial push in a generation. |
| 0:39.6 | But can the country revive its tech supremacy? |
| 0:46.1 | They call them the last decades. |
| 0:48.4 | While we remain strong in manufacturing, we've fallen behind in semiconductors. |
| 0:53.9 | We'll hear from the man who heads Rapidus, the company at the heart of this ambitious plan |
| 0:59.0 | to reboot Japan's chip-making capabilities. |
| 1:02.7 | Budget to education, budget on research and development and technologies, has been kept only the same |
| 1:09.8 | level in these 20 years. Why has Tokyo been so slow same level in these 20 years. |
| 1:11.9 | Why has Tokyo been so slow to invest in these industries |
| 1:15.2 | and what challenges lie ahead for the economy more broadly |
| 1:18.8 | as the government tries to bring about a chip renaissance? |
| 1:23.1 | All coming up in today's Business Daily. |
| 1:28.8 | You are witnessing the ultimate miniaturization of the cassette player. |
| 1:33.9 | It's 1979 and the Sony Walkman has just burst onto the scene. |
| 1:38.6 | For the first time ever, people could walk, take the train, exercise, with music in their ears. |
| 1:45.0 | It was a real moment for Japanese tech brilliance |
| 1:48.0 | and paved the way for the iPod and then today's smartphones. |
... |
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