An Interview with Takuya Yamaguchi, TRIPLE-1, Inc. President/CEO: ‘We Challenged Ourselves to Develop the ASIC Chip with World’s Cutting-Edge 7nm Process’

“We plan to become one of the world’s top three ASIC manufacturers.”

There are a number of potential use cases where the Blockchain technology can be influential in providing tangible value adds in the Semiconductor industry space. Counterfeit parts identification is one of the most important use cases, which can transform Semiconductor value chain. Blockchain allows for provenance tracking of any asset in the value chain. As such, it makes it possible to verify in real-time if the underlying asset has been fabricated or tampered with, throughout the semiconductor value chain. The integration with blockchain technology essentially means that each asset in the value chain has a registered code in the distributed ledger, which can be authenticated, making the records truly tamper-resistant.

In light of the above-mentioned scenario, we are thrilled to present TRIPLE-1, Inc.

TRIPLE-1 was established as the one and only blockchain system Development Company in Japan. Using proven semiconductor technology as a base, TRIPLE-1has tied up with the excellent partner company and has been conducting the world top-level high-quality mining system development made in Japan. The company has been positively working in order to play a role in the future blockchain which everyone can use with security, having the Japanese craftsmanship as an asset.

TRIPLE-1 was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Fukuoka, Japan.

Takuya Yamaguchi, TRIPLE-1, Inc. President/CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why did you start up your company? How did you select your niche market and decided to be a part of the global platform?

We founded TRIPLE-1 two years ago.

In February last year, we received a request to “develop ASIC products manufactured in Japan”. Thus, we started this project with top technical engineers who have been leading the semiconductor development in Japan. One of the themes of this project is “the restoration of Japanese manufacturing”; we are investing in this development. We as a venture company can perform with our utmost technological effort and strong desire to surprise the world again.

What were the grounds on which you have expanded your company and its offerings over the years?

First of all, we set up a clear global-scale vision, which we continuously kept on sharing with the entire team. Also, in the long term, we tried to equalize the balance level of ‘work position’ and ‘pride’ of all the staff such as people who pay, people who build, and people who spread them into the market. I believe it should be the same for any other company growing like ours.

Furthermore, we always try to determine the timing of a business decision while considering elements such as the social landscape, demand of the society and personal information network comprehensively. We believe that understanding the importance of timing including not only ‘go ahead’ but also ‘wait’ as well as constructing trust and trustworthy relationships in the whole organization is the foundation of our current growth.

What is your company’s vision statement? And to what extent are you successful in achieving it?

In our projects, we always hold up the concept that ‘today is created by the challenge toward impossible’.

This means that the ‘ordinary’ in our daily life exists only because there is always a ‘challenge’. The ASIC chip with world’s cutting-edge 7nm process was in fact, after testing, proven to have the best performance specs in the world. This success allowed our company to stand on ‘the starting line to create the next world’s ordinary’.

If you were to list the five biggest assets of your organization, what would they be and why?

Our biggest assets are: Vision, Pride, Technology, Personal and Information Network, and Teamwork. We can claim the importance of the existence of our company to the world by realizing the original aspects only we have, and by combining them.

Two-way communication is the key. Employees need to feel they have an outlet for sharing their observations and ideas. Is this true for your company as well?

In the current project stage, I believe that I myself as a CEO need to exercise strong leadership and lead the entire team. As I am not a semiconductor technician, I aim to especially respect the technicians and staff while pointing out the direction and business decisions.

How well do your employees know their role in contributing to the team’s and company’s success?

My staff, including technicians, and I are very close. In our conversations, we not only share our visions but also experiences of the frontline of actual business, and feel that we are steadily coming closer to our vision.

How does your company contribute to the global IT platform at large?

By utilizing our technological development capabilities, we are contributing to infrastructure building in the blockchain industry.Also, through the success of this project, we will create a new future through collaboration with various other industries.

Do you have any new products ready to be rolled out into the market?

Currently, we are steadily proceeding with new, original, and leading-edge product development.

Where do you see your company in a couple of years from now?

Our clear objectives in the future will be the following three:

• To become one of the world’s top 3 ASIC manufacturers.
• To become Japan’s top semiconductor manufacturer.
• And to rank-in as one of the world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers.

“seemingly impossible challenge”, we learned the importance of “sharing the big vision” and “good relationship as a team”.