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

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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...

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