Japan robot maker Yaskawa eyes $200 mln US investment

YASKAWA Electric

30/11/2023 02:50

By Sam Nussey and Miho Uranaka
       TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Japanese robot maker Yaskawa
Electric  6506.T  is considering investing around $200 million
in the United States, its president said, with an eye to making
its industrial robots there for the first time.
    The investment would follow other manufacturers from allied
nations moving to build capacity in the U.S. as Washington tries
to boost high-end manufacturing and strengthen its control over
supply chains amid trade tension with China.
    While Japanese rival Fanuc  6954.T  is a leading maker of
factory robots for the automotive industry in the U.S., Yaskawa
hopes to ride a wave of automation in other sectors.
    Manufacturing locally "gives our customers a sense of
security and reliability," President Masahiro Ogawa said in an
interview.
    The more than 100-year-old company has previously said it is
looking to invest more in the U.S. The potential scope of the
expansion is reported here for the first time.
    Yaskawa is the world's top maker of servo motors, a type of
high-precision motor that is widely used in chipmaking tools.
    The company, which already makes components in Illinois,
Wisconsin and Ohio, is considering expanding U.S. production to
modules which incorporate its motors, Ogawa said.
    The U.S. views securing access to cutting-edge
semiconductors as a priority, with its leading chip equipment
makers including Applied Materials  AMAT.O  and Lam Research
 LRCX.O .
    Foreign manufacturers building out capacity in the U.S.
include automaker Toyota Motor  7203.T  and chipmakers TSMC
 2330.TW  and Samsung Electronics  005930.KS .
    Yaskawa, whose shares have risen by about a third
year-to-date giving it a market capitalisation of around $10
billion, is looking at possible subsidies to fund some of the
cost of the expansion, Ogawa said.

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))