🤖 Japan's $640B bet on chips and AI

📰 Tokyo is pouring massive investment into becoming a semiconductor and AI powerhouse. Kioxia is a telling example: back in 2023, the company was so cash-strapped its reps handed out home-printed business cards at trade shows. The AI boom reversed its fortunes and now Kioxia is building a third plant in the northern town of Kitakami (over $31B in investment), and an inflow of workers has helped stall the region's depopulation.

📉 But the story also shows the limits of this strategy: there's real local revival, but money alone can't fix the broader decline of rural Japan yet.

@TokyoNews