Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says his government will spend big to help foreign chipmakers bring more of their operations to Japan.
Kishida had a meeting on Thursday with executives from Taiwan's TSMC, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology from the US, among others.
Micron Technology officials say they plan to invest up to 500 billion yen, or about 3.6 billion dollars, to develop and make next-generation memory chips in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Samsung officials are also considering building a research and development center in Japan.
Kishida said Japan would provide financial assistance to make that a reality.
Japanese leaders are wary of the threat that US-China tensions pose to semiconductor supply chains, and in turn to economic security.
They earmarked 1.3 trillion yen, or about 9.5 billion dollars, in a fiscal 2022 supplementary budget to subsidize the local development and production of semiconductors.