The Japanese are, understandably, heartily sick of US chip manufacturers that complain that they can’t get a share of the Japanese market, yet sit at home and imagine that the business will come to them. They point to Texas Instruments Inc and its long-standing Japanese manufacturing plants, and Motorola Inc with its joint venture with Toshiba Corp to manufacture its microprocessors in Japan as evidence that their market is not closed at all – US companies simply need to make the same effort, investment and long term commitment that Japanese companies make when they want to get into the US and Europe. The enormous auto electronics market is one in which US chipmakers have made virtually no progress, but all that could be about to change and once again it is Motorola that is in the vanguard. Toyota Motor Corp told Reuters on Friday that it is in discussion with Nippon Motorola Ltd on applications-specific integrated circuits for use in cars. The talks could lead to a joint design effort, after which Motorola would manufacture the parts at its US plants for Toyota. The two confirm that talks are under way, but Nippon Motorola declined to comment on press reports that the two have already reached agreement for manufacture of parts to begin in 1990.
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