35) The Beginnings of “Japan Bashing”

  
The article, “The Japanese Spies in Silicon Valley” which was published in Fortune magazine


“The Japanese Spies in Silicon Valley” - It was in the February 27, 1978 issue of the American economic magazine "Fortune" that posted this shocking article.

According to the magazine, "Silicon Valley is a friendly and peaceful place in general, but now it is full of anxiety and insecurity due to Japanese commercial attacks." "Japanese firms have placed local branch offices in Silicon Valley, collecting information openly or confidentially and buying samples of innovative products, which they send to Japan. "" Many of these Japanese people are pretending to be legal in dealing with US manufacturers, and doubts have arisen that they are being too enthusiastic in their behaviors. They are new kind of people whom we should call ‘semiconductor Samurai’ and they are also called ‘Tigers’, severely criticizing the behavior of Japanese companies.

At that time, Intel Chairman Robert Noyce also commented that "they (the Japanese) are coming for our throats, and we must realize this and take countermeasures."

Industry officials including Noyce and others formed the “Semiconductor Industry Association of America” (SIA) in March of the previous year (1977), and the US side's offensive against Japan rapidly increased from that point.

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