Rapidus Secures Funding for 2nm Chips

Established in August 2022, Rapidus is a public-private partnership backed by eight major Japanese corporations, including Toyota, Sony, and SoftBank. The venture is central to Japan's strategy to regain a leading position in the global semiconductor market, a dominance it lost after the 1980s. The country's advanced logic semiconductor production had previously stalled at the 40nm generation. The latest funding round of 267.6 billion yen consists of 100 billion yen from the Japanese government and 167.6 billion yen from 32 private companies. This gives the government a significant stake, initially with 11.5% of voting rights and a "golden share" to veto key decisions, which can increase to 40% if the company's performance falters. Rapidus is licensing its core 2nm technology from IBM, specifically its gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet transistor architecture. Over 150 Rapidus engineers are working alongside IBM researchers at the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York to co-develop the technology for mass production. The partnership has also expanded to include advanced chiplet packaging technologies. The company's factory, named the Innovative Integration for Manufacturing (IIM), is under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido. Construction began in September 2023, and the first extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine, essential for 2nm production, was installed in December 2024. A pilot line is scheduled to become operational in April 2025. Rapidus plans to start with an initial production volume of 6,000 wafers per month in the latter half of 2027. The company has an ambitious goal to ramp up its capacity fourfold to approximately 25,000 wafers per month by 2028. Should the 2nm production be successful, there are already plans for a second factory to produce 1.4nm chips.