Sale of chemical units to Japanese under fire

Two recent sales to the Japanese of units owned by Hercules and Union Carbide came under fire last week in hearings before the Senate Commerce, Space & Transportation Committee. The Hercules transaction—the main focus of the hearing—involved sale of its Semi-Gas Systems to Nippon Sanso, a Japanese industrial gas producer. Semi-Gas makes equipment that feeds high-purity gases used in semiconductor manufacturing. Carbide's sale in May of its high-purity silicon operation in Moses Lake and Washougal, Wash., to Komatsu Electronic Metals Co. also was criticized by the chairman of the hearing, Sen. Albert Gore (D.-Tenn.). With neither Hercules nor Carbide called to testify, the heat fell upon officials from the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment. This committee has the task of approving or disapproving, on national security grounds, the sale of U.S. firms to foreign companies. In its two-year existence, the committee has approved 459 of 460 cases set before it, including ...