Japan is the latest country to set out its stall for advanced chip making with AI applications in sight, as its government launched a JPY 10 trillion ($65 billion) package. Both timing and financing are slightly vague, but the stated ambition is for the country to invest JPY 50 trillion ($323 billion) in the semiconductor field over the next 10 years, from a combination of public and private sources. While the latter figure is more of an ambition whose realization will depend on the state of the country’s economy, the initial $65 billion package is part of a more coherent draft plan running until 2030, specifying subsidies and other incentives to support mass production of advanced chips. This means developing…