Japan's Rapidus Secures Funding for 2nm Chips
Japanese semiconductor firm Rapidus Corporation announced it has secured 267.6 billion yen in a funding round from the Japanese government and private companies. The investment is intended to help the company progress from its R&D phase to mass production of 2-nanometer logic semiconductors. The company aims to begin mass production by 2027.
Rapidus was established in August 2022 as a consortium of eight major Japanese corporations, including Toyota, Sony, NEC, and SoftBank. The initiative is a cornerstone of Japan's strategy to regain its footing in the global semiconductor market, a sector it dominated in the 1980s before its global market share fell to less than 10%. The technological leap is significant, as the most advanced chip currently mass-produced in Japan is the 40-nm node. The move to 2-nm production is a multi-generational jump, aiming to place Japan back at the cutting edge of a technology critical for AI, autonomous driving, and digitalization. This ambitious goal relies heavily on international collaboration. Rapidus has a strategic partnership with IBM to license its 2-nanometer nanosheet transistor technology and works with Belgian research hub imec. Dozens of Rapidus engineers are already working alongside IBM researchers at the Albany Nanotech Complex in New York to accelerate development. The company's main production facility, dubbed the Innovative Integration for Manufacturing (IIM), is under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, with a pilot line planned for 2025. To support its global ambitions, Rapidus has also established a US subsidiary, Rapidus Design Solutions, in Santa Clara, California. Rapidus is entering a fiercely competitive field. Industry giants TSMC and Samsung are both targeting 2nm mass production by 2025, with Intel also in the race. The manufacturing process is exceptionally complex, facing challenges with production yields and requiring extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines that cost over $150 million each. Despite the challenges, Rapidus has secured its first publicly announced customer. The company has been contracted to manufacture next-generation AI accelerators for Canadian AI hardware startup Tenstorrent.
