In an increasingly competitive global semiconductor industry, Rapidus, a rising star in the Japanese semiconductor industry, recently announced that it will invest $90 million in the procurement of advanced semiconductor equipment to accelerate the development process of its 2nm semiconductor technology. This move marks a solid step on Rapidus' path to achieving its goal of mass-producing 2nm semiconductors by 2027.
Rapidus is a high-end chip company jointly invested by eight Japanese giants, including well-known companies such as Toyota, Sony, Kaiser, NTT, Denso, NFC, Mitsubishi and Softbank. Since its inception, it has received a subsidy of 70 billion yen (about 3.577 billion yuan) from the Japanese government, showing the Japanese government's strong support for the local semiconductor industry.
As an emerging semiconductor manufacturer, Rapidus has not only received strong financial support, but has also established a strategic partnership with IMEC, Europe's largest chip research and development organization, in terms of technology. A memorandum of cooperation signed between the two companies shows that Rapidus plans to mass produce 2-nanometer chips in Japan in the second half of the 20s, which will be used in areas such as 5G communications, quantum computing, data centers, self-driving cars and digital smart cities.
Rapidus's pilot line construction plan is also synchronized, is expected to invest $600 million next year to build 2nm semiconductor pilot line. The pilot line will serve as a test production facility before full-scale mass production, which is an important step for Rapidus, which has no experience in semiconductor production, to enhance its mass production technology. Through this pilot line, Rapidus will be able to optimize and adjust its production process to provide a solid foundation for future volume production.
Rapidus' target market is different from existing foundries such as TSMC and Samsung Electronics. The company focuses on producing "wafer-level" semiconductors for all types of low-volume production, an approach more suited to earlystage semiconductor development for fabless companies than for mass production. At the same time, Rapidus is actively developing 1nm semiconductor processes and has set a goal of achieving mass production by 2030.
As competition in the global semiconductor market intensifies, the rise of Rapidus will undoubtedly bring new vigor to the Japanese and global semiconductor industry. The company's growth will not only help enhance Japan's competitiveness in the global semiconductor industry, but will also promote the development of cutting-edge semiconductor technologies in the country, laying the foundation for future technological innovation.
