Kishida Urges US Executives to Boost Tech Investments in Japan

Yoshiaki Nohara, Bloomberg News

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his spouse Yuko Kishida arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on April 8. Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images , Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged American business executives to boost investment in Asia’s second-largest economy tied to key technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“We very much welcome US investments to Japan to nurture cooperation between the two nations on important emerging technologies,” Kishida said at the opening of a roundtable with US business leaders in Washington on Tuesday. “Your investments will enable Japan’s economic growth — which will also be capital for more investments from Japan to the US.”

Participants in the luncheon included Gary Cohn, vice chairman at International Business Machines Corp., who served as chief economic adviser to former President Donald Trump, Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla, Boeing Co.’s defense chief Ted Colbert, Micron Technology Inc. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and Western Digital Corp. Chief Executive Officer David Goeckeler. Mike Sabel, CEO of Venture Global LNG Inc., also attended.

Kishida met the group ahead of a summit with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday in which the two are expected to tout the strength of economic cooperation between the two allies.

Japan continues to be the biggest investing nation in the US, having created more than 1 million jobs in America, Kishida said. He cited semiconductors as an area in which the two nations are boosting cooperation, with IBM helping Japan’s Rapidus Corp. to make advanced logic chips.

Inflection Point

Japan’s economy is at an inflection point, with the central bank raising interest rates in March for the first time in 17 years and stocks hittting a record high, Kishida said.

“I want to make this year a period when Japan can completely exit the mindset of deflation and cost cutting,” he said. “I’m strongly promoting policies toward the next economic stage so that people, goods and money will get moving firmly.”

Kishida and business leaders also talked on the implications of US pause on approvals for new liquefied natural gas export facilities, an issue that poses risks to future supply to Japan, which is among the world’s top importers and highly reliant on the fuel.

Participants “discussed energy security and emphasized the importance of US LNG exports to Japan and other allies,” the US Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

Read more: Biden Urged to Reverse LNG Pause by Global Business Groups

Japan’s government has previously expressed concerned about Biden’s moratorium on new projects, and the nation’s Keidanren, a lobby group which includes Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Group Corp., has urged the US to reverse its decision.

--With assistance from David Stringer.

(Adds Commerce statement on LNG)