Running lspci command in Linux might settle the issue, but based on what I have seen, I believe the "NEC" chipset here was developed by Taiwan's RDC Semiconductor.(https://www.rdc.com.tw/en)
That being said, NEC likely offered standard cell based ASIC foundry service to RDC Semiconductor, and even did the packaging for them in-house.
The silk marking of this chip appears to look like an authentically NEC packaged IC, and historically, Japanese semiconductor companies did in-house packaging in Japan, at least until 1990s.
I think this rather odd Taiwanese company (RDC Semiconductor) emphasizing that the chip was manufactured by Japan's NEC has something to do with Japan being the only Asian country to achieve world class (i.e., Western standards) semiconductor technology at the time (1990s), so this firm wanted to advertise that.
Of course, the world has changed a lot in 30 years or so, and today it is perfectly normal for fabless semiconductor companies to use Taiwanese foundries like TSMC and UMC to get their chip to be manufactured on a contract basis.
Japan's relative importance in the electronics industry has significantly waned over the past three decades, and it is not a total coincidence that Japan now ranks mere 6th place in per capita GDP in Asia ($33K USD) versus Taiwan ranking 4th place ($37K USD).
The top three of the per capita GDP in Asia are all rather fake "city" states (Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR).
Japan has also earned the dubious distinction of having no economic growth averaged over the past 35 years (this used to be called the "lost" decade, which then turned into two lost decades, three lost decades, etc., and people stopped using this phrase recently), despite having many world class corporations and highly educated populous.
Did the rise of Taiwanese foundries like TSMC and UMC and fabless semiconductor business model contributed to this dubious distinction of having 0% average economic over the past 35 years?
I will say the answer to be, yes, it did contribute to their lack of economic growth, at least on the margin.
That's my 2 cents.
