Japan says progress made on $550B pact, with AI and chips weighing heavily on the next round

Japan’s trade minister said discussions on AI and semiconductors will carry very significant weight in the third tranche of its $550B US investment pact, after two rounds went to energy and minerals. The EU’s own framework contains no comparable vehicle, and commits the bloc to buying at least $40B of US AI chips.

Japan’s trade minister said discussions on artificial intelligence and semiconductors will carry “very significant weight” in the next round of projects under its $550B investment pact with the United States. Ryosei Akazawa spoke in Washington on Friday, Bloomberg News reported.

Two rounds have been announced so far. The first put $36B into American oil, gas and mineral projects, and the second $73B into a nuclear project across Tennessee and Alabama plus gas power plants in Pennsylvania and Texas.

That is $109B of $550B committed after more than a year, and none of it in AI or chips.

The vehicle was the centre of last year’s tariff agreement, under which Washington set levies on Japanese goods at 15% and lowered the rate for cars. Both sides confirmed on Friday that no further tariffs would follow.