In the past 20 years, Japan has given the outside world the impression that it is mostly a “declining developed country”, with its economic development continuing to regress and its technological development stagnating.
Is this really the case, or is it a deliberate attempt to create a “false decline” in Japan?
From the front of the stage, a series of consumer goods Japanese companies are being beaten back by the Chinese manufacturing, but from behind the scenes, in many key areas such as chips, robots, and even oil, Japan is still able to global “a hand in the sky”.
Modern manufacturing, factories have been inseparable from the robot.
In manufacturing, an instrument arm can easily replace dozens of workers in traditional assembly line operations. So, where do these robots come from?
The field of robotics has “four families”, respectively: FANUC FANUC (Japan), Yaskawa Electric Yaskawa (Japan), ABB (Switzerland), KUKA KUKA (Germany).
In the field of high-end industrial robots, such as six-axis multi-joint robots used in high-end automotive, chip and electronic fields, the four big families even directly dominate more than 90% of the Chinese market.
Among the four families, Japan alone occupies half of the market. If you look at the market share, Japan is even more overwhelmingly dominant.
Among the top ten robot brands, Japan occupies seven, and only two, Fanuc and Epson, occupy 1/4 of the global market. Japan has become the world’s top producer and exporter of industrial robots by virtue of its strong industrial robot R&D and production capabilities.
What is even more frightening is that Japan, with the shosha Culture formed over the years, has relied on the huge energy of the consortium to establish a huge production system that radiates upstream and downstream whenever it is deeply involved in an industry.
Today, the upstream production of core components for industrial robots has been gradually monopolized by Japan.
One of the core parts of robot joints, the precision reducer known as the “crown jewel of robots”, has formed a monopoly of Japanese companies. Even the “Four Families” have to purchase from Japan.
There is a global shortage of supply of semiconductor chips. In the semiconductor processing equipment, almost the world of Japan and the United States. The world’s top ten semiconductor equipment manufacturers, Japanese companies occupy five, and is occupying half of the mountain.
Similarly, semiconductor materials remain in Japan’s control.
The production of semiconductor chips require 19 necessary materials, and most of the materials have very high technical barriers.
Japan has a share of 50% and more in silicon wafers, photoresists, synthetic semiconductor wafers and 14 other important materials. 70% of the world’s semiconductor silicon materials are provided by Shin-Etsu Chemical of Japan.
Farther to the energy industry, Japan a resource-poor country, and oil can not be related to half. But Saudi Arabia behind the top petrochemical technology, it is by Mitsui, Mitsubishi-led general trading company control.
Rather than Japan’s “20 years of decline”, it is Japan’s “20 years of hiding”.
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