In this photo illustration, Kokusai Electric logo is seen on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesShares of Japanese semiconductor equipment maker Kokusai Electric saw a strong debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Kokusai Electric is a spin-off from Hitachi Kokusai Electric, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational electronics company Hitachi. He said Kokusai Electric may not be as competitive as its rivals Tokyo Electron or Lasertec , which dominate niche markets in the semiconductor production process. He said applications such as artificial intelligence use logic chips instead of memory chips, which are used in smartphones.

---

Persons: Pavlo Gonchar, Mio Kato, CNBC's, Mio Kato Lightstream, Kato Organizations: Getty, Kokusai, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan Times, Hitachi Kokusai, Hitachi, KKR, Lightstream Research, Tokyo