Japan's Rapidus secures major funding
Rapidus, a Japanese semiconductor firm, secured 267.6 billion yen (approx. $1.8B) in a funding round from the Japanese government and private companies. The investment is intended to help the company mass-produce 2-nanometer logic semiconductors by 2027.
Rapidus is a strategic national project for Japan, established in August 2022 with backing from the government and a consortium of eight major Japanese companies, including Toyota, Sony, and SoftBank. The initiative is a core part of Japan's goal to regain a leading position in the global semiconductor market, a significant ambition considering the country's market share fell from over 50% in the 1980s to around 10% by 2019. The company is led by industry veterans, with Tetsuro Higashi, former head of Tokyo Electron, as Chairman, and Atsuyoshi Koike, who previously led Western Digital's Japanese arm, as CEO. This leadership team is steering the company's factory construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, which began in September 2023. The Dutch firm ASML, a critical supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, is also setting up an office in Chitose to support Rapidus. The 2-nanometer chips that Rapidus aims to produce are at the cutting edge of semiconductor technology. This advanced technology allows for a higher transistor density on a chip, leading to significant boosts in computing speed and energy efficiency compared to previous generations. Such chips are crucial for demanding applications like artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and advanced data centers. To achieve its ambitious goal, Rapidus is not going it alone. The company has a key technology partnership with IBM to license its 2nm nanosheet transistor technology. Additionally, it is collaborating with the Belgian research hub Imec. These international partnerships are vital for Japan's strategy to quickly catch up with the current industry leaders. The race to mass-produce 2-nanometer chips is intensely competitive, with global giants like Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung also targeting 2025 for their own 2nm production. Intel is another major competitor in this advanced semiconductor manufacturing space. The success of Rapidus is therefore a key element of Japan's strategy for economic and technological security, aiming to reduce its reliance on foreign chip foundries.
