Japan's Kishida sees opportunities for more chip collaboration with US

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a group interview ahead of a planned summit next week with U.S. President Joe Biden, in Tokyo, Japan April 5, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday he sees opportunities for more collaboration between Japan and the United States in next-generation computer chips.

Kishida made the remark at a business roundtable on Critical and Emerging Technologies hosted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington the day before the Japanese leader is to hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. firm Microsoft said it would invest $2.9 billion over two years to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in Japan, its largest investment in the 46 years of its operations in the country.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina, Editing by Franklin Paul)