Taiwan's biggest IT services company is teaming up with a Japanese partner to help Taiwanese companies move into Japan — good news for manufacturers chasing the semiconductor build-out there.

• Systex and Japan's CTC, part of the Itochu group, have set up a joint venture called CTC-SYSTEX, based in Fukuoka.
• It will build and run the IT systems Taiwanese companies need at their new Japanese sites — networks, cloud, security, equipment and ongoing support.
• The driver is the chip industry: Japan's Kyushu semiconductor corridor is growing fast as global supply chains get rebuilt.
• Systex brings its chip, finance and government clients in Taiwan; CTC brings a nationwide service network inside Japan.
• Longer term the plan is a cross-border IT platform linking both countries, and selling Taiwanese software into Japan.

Outlook: Expect more Taiwanese suppliers to follow their chip customers into Kyushu, with local IT support becoming a selling point in the race for those contracts.