Japan outspends U.S., Germany on chip subsidies as share of GDP

TOKYO -- Japan is proportionately spending more heavily to support its semiconductor sector than the U.S. and other major Western nations are on theirs, data presented at a key government panel here Tuesday shows.

The Japanese figure of 3.9 trillion yen ($25.7 billion) over three years equals 0.71% of gross domestic product. The U.S. is spending more in value terms -- the equivalent of 7.1 trillion yen over five years -- but its share of GDP is 0.21%, less than a third of Japan's.