Japan’s newly formed chip foundry venture Rapidus Corp. said it is seeking to invest several trillion yen to help reboot the country’s semiconductor industry. Backed by Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Group Corp. and six other Japanese companies, the Tokyo-based venture signed a partnership with International Business Machines Corp. to develop the US firm’s leading-edge 2-nanometer technologies. Rapidus said it will begin mass production of the chips in 2027 at a plant it plans to build in Japan.
The company secured an allocation of 70 billion yen ($510 million) in subsidies from the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last month. For comparison, the US government is spending more than $50 billion to rebuild its chip production capabilities.
“This is a start,” Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that the company will seek continued government support. “We will need to invest several trillion yen.”
Sector leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to mass produce 2nm chips in 2025, while Samsung Electronics Co. began mass production of 3nm chips in June. While home to some of the world’s leading suppliers of semiconductor-making equipment, Japan’s domestic factories are generations behind. Rapidus is also backed by auto parts maker Denso Corp., memory chipmaker Kioxia Corp., MUFG Bank, NEC Corp. and telecom firms Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and SoftBank Corp. The chip venture previously announced a partnership with Belgium-based microelectronics research hub IMEC on advanced semiconductor technologies.
“We are confident that we will be able to secure the support of the Japanese government and that of the trade ministry,” Koike said. “The ramifications will be huge if we cannot achieve 2nm capabilities.”
