The interminable and rather juvenile Japan-bashing by the US over the share of the Japanese chip market taken by foreign firms has flared up again in the wake of the latest figures, which says that the foreign share of the market fell to 18.1% in the third quarter last year: US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor is seeking emergency talks with Japan over semiconductors and said a joint plan will be proposed to improve dramatically foreign share and access to the market; Japanese electronics companies say they resent the American claims they are not meeting their commitments and, pointing to the latest Dataquest figures, insist that US chipmakers already dominate the semiconductor market worldwide.
