According to Nikkei, the COVID-19 pandemic caused most of the global plant shutdowns to drive Japanese companies to speed up supply chain adjustments. Recently, Japanese electronic component manufacturers have expressed their intention to return production capacity to Japan. Companies such as ROHM Semiconductor and JDI have begun to evaluate the move of some overseas production lines back to Japan.

The report said that with the development of production automation in Japan, the cost gap between domestic production and overseas production has been narrowed. ROHM Semiconductor plans to move the back-end production processes in Mainland China and Southeast Asia to Japan in the second half of 2021. ROHM Semiconductor's president Matsumoto said that in order to cut the fixed cost of overseas production, the proportion of outsourcing production in the back-end process will be increased from the current 10% to 30% by the end of March 2023.

LCD manufacturer JDI pointed out that as part of the reorganization of the supply chain, it is an important matter to evaluate the return of the overseas back-end process to Japan. JDI said that the labor cost gap between overseas and Japan is not that big, and the company is promoting automation investment in Japan for back-end production process.

The report pointed out that Murata's domestic production accounted for 65% of the overall production, and before the outbreak of COVID-19, Murata is planning to reduce its dependence on domestic production in Japan. Now, Murata said that in the current situation, it is an advantage to concentrate production in Japan, and it is not the time to continue to move production overseas.