	japan rejects u s objections to fairchild sale a foreign ministry official dismissed arguments made by senior u s government officials seeking to block the sale of a u s microchip maker to a japanese firm they appear to be linking completely unrelated issues shuichi takemoto of the foreign ministry s north american division told reuters u s commerce secretary malcolm baldrige has asked the white house to consider blocking the sale of fairchild semiconductor corp to japan s fujitsu ltd itsu t u s officials said yesterday baldrige expressed concern that the sale would leave the u s military dependent on a foreign company for vital high technology equipment pentagon officials said defence secretary caspar weinberger also opposes to the sale u s officials have also said the sale would give fujitsu a powerful role in the u s market for supercomputers while japan s supercomputer market remains closed to u s sales takemoto said national security should not be an issue since the planned purchase of fairchild from its current owner schlumberger ltd slb does not include fairchild s main defence related division in addition takemoto said tension over the supercomputer trade should not affect the sale as fairchild does not make supercomputers analysts noted that fairchild does make sophisticated microchips used in supercomputers fujitsu makes similar chips and supplies them to u s supercomputer makers they said takemoto also dismissed u s fears that the proposed takeover would violate u s antitrust law saying the purchase would not result in fujitsu monopolising the u s semiconductor market two separate issues appear to have come together to boost pressure to block the purchase industry analysts said the move is in part an attempt to force japan to open its domestic market to more u s supercomputer sales they said u s officials have repeatedly charged that the japanese public sector is closed to u s supercomputer sales despite u s firms technological lead in the field the united states believes japan will only react when bullied and this is a bullying ploy salomon brothers asia analyst carole ryavec said however the analysts said more is at stake than supercomputer sales as the u s fears it is losing its vital semiconductor industry to japanese competitors the real issue is xenophobia in the u s silicon valley said tom murtha of brokerage james capel and co u s japanese tension over the semiconductor trade has failed to subside despite recent efforts by japan s ministry of international trade and industry miti to get japanese firms to abide by a bilateral pact aimed at halting predatory pricing and opening japan s market a miti official said that while japan is faithfully abiding by the agreement problems remain in halting the sale of microchips in europe and southeast asia at prices below those set by the pact it is only a matter of time before we solve this problem he told reuters despite the furore fujitsu will proceed with talks on the uisition in line with the basic agreement reached with schlumberger last year a fujitsu spokeswoman told reuters reuter 
