Tokyo, Japan – Major Japanese semiconductor makers and makers of related equipment will join together to develop EUV technology with the support of the government, industry sources said.

Among companies participating in the project are Canon Inc., Nikon Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp., NEC Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., and Sony Corp., reported the Financial Times.

The alliance comes as Japanese semiconductor makers are in the throes of restructuring, after losing their dominance in the memory chip business.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry will earmark nearly two billion yen for the project under its FY02 budget in the belief that Japan’s chip industry will be eclipsed by foreign competition unless it successfully develops the EUV technology, the sources said.