April 22, 2011

1. As a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, the Naka factory of Renesas Electronics Corporation in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, suffered damage to its factory buildings and facilities and temporarily suspended production. Since semiconductors manufactured in this factory are utilized in various kinds of products, such as automobiles and electronics, it is our hope that operations will resume as soon as possible.

2. As a result of the efforts through the cooperation of Renesas Electronics and other industry partners, new plans have been announced to move up the scheduled start of mass production （wafer input） at the 200 millimeter wafer fabrication line to June 15. This is a considerable improvement over the previously anticipated starting date in July, when part of its manufacturing is expected to restart.

3. Japan has supplied a large volume of excellent parts and materials to the world’s manufacturers, and has played an important role in the global supply chain. Though Japan’s supply chain has suffered serious damage and impact by the earthquake, and thus it has raised concern about the effect on both the Japanese and the global economy, Japan’s parts and materials industry has been recovering very quickly. Today’s announcement of the earlier-than-anticipated resumption of production at the Naka factory of Renesas Electronics Corporation is a typical example of such fast recovery.

4. Facing the concerns expressed by the global community about Japan’s supply chain, I am sure that this is a great example showing Japan’s strength in “Monodzukuri”, manufacturing industries, to overcome this national crisis.

5. I expect that reconstruction work is progressing vigorously, and its pace will accelerate towards recovery of supply capacity in the future. Together with this company’s recovery of supply capacity, I also look forward to an acceleration of such developments towards actual recovery of production in many related industries utilizing semiconductors.

Information and Communication Electronics Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau