MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Japan to buy semiconductor materials giant for $6.3 billion

• Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata

ALL CAPITALI$M IS STATE CAPITALI$M

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

Japan Investment Corp., a government-backed group, has agreed to buy Tokyo-listed chipmaking materials provider JSR for $6.3 billion.

Why it matters: This is part of a global trend of governments seeking to safeguard their semiconductor supply chains.

By the numbers: Japan Investment Corp. will offer around $30.40 per JSR share via a tender, representing a 35% premium to Friday's closing price.

• JSR has around a 30% global market share share for photoresists, light-sensitive polymers that are used as coatings on semiconductor substrates.

More, per Bloomberg: "Those compounds are needed to make semiconductors used in supercomputers, AI-harnessing data centers and missile control systems, not to mention gadgets including iPhones. Government control over the materials critical to powerful chips would grant Japan greater leverage in a world increasingly divided by an escalating US-China technological rift."