Text: Dazhuang Laboratory
(All content in this article has official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article)
Although Japan is a small country and is not very willing to admit the history of its ancestors, there are still some things worth learning from the development of science and technology.
In the process of continuous development of the global economy, the United States has gradually surpassed other countries in some fields from being unbeatable in the early years, while there are so many sophisticated technologies in the world, but Japan has mastered and led them.
So what are these cutting-edge technologies? How did Japan achieve the world's leading edge, and look at these high-end technologies, do you know anything about them?
High-end materials for the semiconductor industry
Japan has always had excellent R&D capabilities and manufacturing technology in the field of semiconductor materials.
Japanese semiconductor companies have also made remarkable achievements in high-purity silicon, photoresist, and aluminized materials, and have also occupied an important position in the global semiconductor market.
Japan's semiconductor industry, in the 80s, was also at its most glorious, and it was believed that it not only surpassed the United States, but also had the ability to lead the world, but this statement may be absolutely a little true.
In the Japanese semiconductor industry, there are aspects that surpass the United States in terms of quality and reliability in the manufacturing and production of dynamic random access memory, but not all Japanese semiconductors can surpass the United States.
In the production of complex chips for the semiconducting industry, in addition to dozens of raw materials, the purity of materials, such as silicon, must be able to reach 11N, that is, 99.999999999%.
It is also necessary to clean a large amount of high-purity water with a high purity of 6N or more every day, and this purity water alone cannot be produced casually.
In the 70s and 80s, Japan was in a period when the electronics industry was relatively developed, and it had important expertise in its au pair materials industry, which was difficult to imitate.
In the production of semiconductors, Japan can partially take the lead, and it also has some late-mover advantages.
In the 80s, Japan's exchange rate was relatively low, and the cost of labor was relatively low, so it was later than the United States to carry out research, and it had a certain price advantage, so Japan also developed more rapidly.
Then there is the Japanese company, in the management also focus on building a zero-defect production system, which is more distinctive than the United States to adopt the probability theory of management, is such a cultural difference and management characteristics, so that the quality of Japanese products is better.
With the price advantage of high-quality product quality and price, Japan's semiconductor's industrial products have quickly occupied a larger market, and in 1990, among the world's top ten chip companies, there were 6 Japanese companies alone.
In the 90s, the global influence of Japanese semiconductor companies declined, and at this time, the United States adopted a trade war, which curbed Japan's continued rapid development.
In addition, in the mid-to-late 90s, electronic products and chips from Taiwan and South Korea also began to enter the world market.
Although by 2021, the global semiconductor market share will become 54% in the United States and 22% in South Korea, leaving only 6% of Japan's share, but Japan still has some weight for high-end semiconductor core technologies.
In addition, Japan has made a lot of breakthroughs in the production and research and development of silicon nitride materials, silicon carbide materials, etc., and has made some important contributions to the development of the semiconductor industry.
Industrial robot related parts
Japan has always been a global leader in robotics, and its main core is also in the development of industrial robot parts.
Japan's cutting-edge technological advantages in the field of robotics have enabled Japanese companies to make more remarkable achievements in the research and development, manufacturing and application of industrial robots.
The United States is the place where robots began, about the forties and fifties of the last century, the United States has obtained a lot of patent projects in industrial robots, and in 1965 also released related robot products.
That is, the success of the advent of robots in the United States also allowed Japan to introduce the first robot in 1967, and began the road of Japan's active development of industrial robots.
In addition to the robot itself, Japanese companies have also made some important breakthroughs in the research and development of robots and related components, such as high-precision sensors and precision drive systems.
The technical level of parts and components is also in a leading position in the world, and it is the quality and precision of these parts and components that have won a certain international reputation for Japan's industrial robot industry.
The advantages of Japanese robots in density and quantity have also given Japan the opportunity to be at the forefront of the world, especially in the manufacture of mechanical sensors and precision instruments, computer industry and large-scale software, there is a trend of leading development.
The development of these robot parts has made Japan more operational value in terms of quality and stability of industrial robots, and Japan, which has this industrial robot and high-precision technology, also has the status of a high-precision robot development country in the world.
However, Japan's robots are leading, and most of them are in the traditional field of robots, either in terms of precision technology products, or in terms of use quality, which is relatively superior.
However, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the development of intelligent robots has also been surpassed by China.
Although Japan is also trying to promote AI education and wants to realize its compound talents at the high school and university levels, it is still not as strong as China's development in artificial intelligence patent applications.
And China's parts quality, if it can also catch up with the international development trend, then it will also have a better industrial ecosystem, coupled with the continuous development of technology patents, the future of robotics technology, is still very promising.
Machine tool processing technology in Japan
Machine tools, also known as "industrial machines", are used as an important support for the manufacturing industry, such as manufacturing machines, semiconductor equipment, and processing parts, and Japan's high-end machine tool processing technology has long been among the top in the world.
Japan's machine tool companies are actively developing high-precision, high-rigidity machine tool products to meet the needs of the manufacturing industry for precision machining, but the Japanese machine tool companies that are not visible are slowly having the posture of latecomers.
Japan's machine tools in high-speed machining, five-axis machining, micromachining, etc., is a unique advantage, for the manufacturing industry to provide advanced production tools, such as Mazak, Amada, Dakui, etc., are Japan's more well-known machine tool manufacturers.
The machine tools processed and produced by Japan are mostly famous for precision, and for a long time there is a high output and export volume, learning from Germany, the United States and other manufacturing powers, and opening the international market at a lower price.
It is similar to the development mode of other industries, focusing on quality control, and continuous research and development in technology to ensure the external competitiveness of its own technology, so as to have a large number of machine tool orders in Japan.
According to Jiemian News' December 2020 news, Japan's overseas orders for machine tools are mostly from China, the United States and some parts of Europe, and China alone accounts for more than 3% of the number of orders.
Due to the strong demand for the number of machine tools in China's automobile industry, a large number of imported Japanese precision machine tool technology products have also promoted the development of Japan's machine tool industry to a certain extent.
With the continuous progress and improvement of China's development, the machine tool industry is also constantly improving, independent and industrial system, but some of the more core components may still be more dependent on imports, and machine tools are one of them.
Machine tool technology, which is widely used, whether it is automobiles, high-speed rail, aerospace, or mobile phones, washing machines and televisions, all require China's machine tool industry, with higher quality development, and China's machine tool industry technology is still developing.
Other high-precision technologies in Japan
In addition to some of the cutting-edge technologies mentioned above, Japan also has some high-precision technologies in other fields.
For example, Japan also has the world's leading technology in proton number radiotherapy accelerators, which is a treatment method for the control of early-stage cancer, which is of great significance.
According to the news of China.com in January 2022, Japan's population structure has entered an aging society in advance, and there will be about 1 million new cancer patients in Japan every year.
As of the beginning of 2022, about 106 machines have been put into use, mainly in the United States, Europe and Japan.
In addition to the instruments used for treatment, Japan also has a good performance in carbon fiber industry chain technology and single crystal blade material technology, and some technical indicators also have the strength to surpass American technology.
epilogue
Japan has the ability to lead the world, or even partially surpass the technological strength of the United States, in the development of materials related to the semiconductor industry, industrial robots and other parts, as well as machine tool processing technology.
However, not all of Japan's industries can become the world's leading, and some of Japan's cutting-edge fields that had a leading position in the early years have also changed with the continuous development of the world's science and technology and the share of the international market.
So what other high-tech technologies are there that Japan has not been able to master?
Reference Links
Cover News - "There are a number of covers| Surpassing Japan and the United States, Chinese human robot technology ranks first in the world in terms of patent applications"2023-11-29
China Economic Times - "The Resilience of the Mainland Robot Industry Chain Needs to Be Enhanced"2023-02-23
Jiemian News - "Japan's Machine Tool Orders to China Grew Year-on-Year for Three Consecutive Months"2022-12-13
China.com——"Japanese Particle Radiation Cancer Treatment System: Cancer Cell Killing Power Doubled"2022-01-19
China Chemical Information Weekly: "Industry Analysis" The Competition Pattern of the World's Seven Top New Material Powers"2022-10-31
Reference news - "German media article: Japan will move towards a "robot kingdom"?"2021-10-04
Guangming.com——"Artificial Intelligence Chronicles|Japan: Popularizing AI Education and Robot Revolution"2020-07-07
Economic Observer - "Apocalypse of the Rise and Fall of Japanese Semiconductors" 2023-07-04
China Daily.com - "Japanese semiconductors that overtook the United States 40 years ago, what are the implications for today's Chinese chip industry"2023-02-10