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The island of Hokkaido has long been an agricultural powerhouse – now Japan is investing billions to turn it into a global hub for advanced semiconductors.
More than half of Japan's dairy produce comes from Hokkaido, the northernmost of its main islands. In winter, it's a wonderland of ski resorts and ice-sculpture festivals; in summer, fields bloom with bands of lavender, poppies and sunflowers.
These days, cranes are popping up across the island – building factories, research centres and universities focused on technology. It's part of Japan's boldest industrial push in a generation: an attempt to reboot the country's chip-making capabilities and reshape its economic future.
Locals say that beyond the cattle and tourism, Hokkaido has long lacked other industries. There's even a saying that those who go there do so only to leave.
But if the government succeeds in turning Hokkaido into Japan's answer to Silicon Valley - or "Hokkaido Valley", as some have begun to call it - the country could become a new contender in the $600bn (£458bn) race to supply the world's computer chips.
I saw the Rapidus CEO at HotChips and had lunch with him last month. Great guy, great team, very smart people. The challenge I see is that being between TSMC and Samsung it will be a pretty tight squeeze for business outside of Japan. In the US Rapidus will also have to compete with the home team Intel Foundry.
I do see value with Japan having a leading edge foundry. I also feel Rapidus would have a good shot at the NOT TSMC market. If you look at their investors (Toyota, Sony, SoftBank, Kioxia, Denso, NEC, NTT, MUFG) selling 30k wafers per month should not be a problem.
www.bbc.com
