Tokyo Electron Ltd. is on course to widen its lead against Chinese chip tool makers despite the billions of dollars Beijing is mobilizing to catch up, according to the Japanese company’s chief.
Toshiki Kawai shrugged off concerns about rising competition from China, adding that investors haven’t adequately priced in Tokyo Electron’s leadership in making machines that help process silicon into artificial intelligence chips. Technology at the Japanese company, whose main competitor is Applied Materials Inc., is advancing at a pace that’s faster than its Chinese rivals’, due in part to close collaboration with contract chipmakers, the chief executive officer ...