Youngkin in Japan to forge supply chains with 'friends'

TOKYO (AP) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, in a bid to lure more Japanese chip makers to invest in his state, said Thursday he hopes to forge “trusted supply chain relationships” with U.S. allies and friends to create supply chains that are not China-dependent.

Youngkin, considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, is making his first trip to Asia as governor, having earlier stopped in Taiwan. He will also travel to South Korea.

"We can lead the charge in forging this trusted supply chain relationship with nations that will contribute to the longstanding great relationship that we have, but add to our growth together … in a world where we need to do more with our friends,” he said at a news conference with Micron Executive Vice President Manish Bhatia and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.

They planned to meet later in the day with Japanese semiconductor executives —Youngkin hopes to attract more chip makers to the state.

Micron, a leading semiconductor maker, is in the midst of a $3 billion expansion of a computer chips factory in Manassas, Virginia. It also has a factory in Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s electoral constituency of Hiroshima and is the largest foreign direct investor in Japan, said Micron’s Bhatia.

Youngkin has adopted an increasingly hard line against China. He disclosed in January that he scuttled an effort by Virginia to land a large electric vehicle battery plant, an initiative between Ford Motor Co. and a Chinese company that is setting up in Michigan instead. The governor’s administration labeled the project a “front” for the Chinese Communist Party that would raise national security concerns.

Youngkin said Virginia is home to more than 130 Japanese companies already and he hoped to forge new partnerships...