The US Semiconductor Industry Association trade group in San Jose is getting jumpy over the way everyone is starting to assume that with foreign companies taking 29.6% of the Japanese chip market, the battle is over and we can all move on to next business. It says that Japan’s market share data for first half of 1996 demonstrates the need for continued cooperation on trade accords, and that although foreign market share had reached an all-time high since records have been kept of 29.6% during the fourth quarter of 1995, the Japanese government’s revised data for the first quarter of 1996 shows the foreign share of the market actually falling by 2.7 percentage points to 26.9% – a significant revision because Japan had previously reported the first quarter foreign share at 30.6%, and used this in its argument against renewing the chip trade agreement with the US. The US Trade Representative’s office in Washington said that foreign market share fell further to 26.4% in the second quarter of last year.
