Japan Approves $3.9 Billion Subsidy for Rapidus

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Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) approved an additional ¥590 billion ($3.9 billion) for startup chip foundry Rapidus as part of a plan to revive the nation's semiconductor industry.

www.eetimes.com/, Apr. 04, 2024 – 

Rapidus founder and CEO Atsuyoshi Koike has support from Japan's CHIPS Act, IBM and European R&D organization imec to start making the world's most advanced silicon just two years behind industry heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Rapidus aims to start production of 2-nm chips by 2027. That is after TSMC launches its 2-nm process in Taiwan in 2025.

Japan made progress toward reducing dependence on China in the semiconductor supply chain. In February, TSMC held an opening ceremony for its majority-owned subsidiary Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, which is scheduled to start production by the end of 2024.

TSMC and minority investors Sony Semiconductor, DENSO and Toyota recently announced further investment into the Japan venture to build a second fab, which is scheduled to begin operation by the end of the 2027 calendar year. The TSMC Japan venture's most advanced manufacturing processes will include 12/16 and 6/7-nm tech for automotive, industrial, consumer and HPC-related applications.

Imec is helping Rapidus make more advanced 2-nm chips that can be used for 5G communications, quantum computing, data centers, autonomous vehicles and digital smart cities. The main challenge for Rapidus will be to commercialize IBM's 2-nm technology announced in May 2021–a world's first by the company's semiconductor research facility in Albany, New York.

In November 2023, Rapidus and AI chip designer Tenstorrent formed a partnership to produce 2-nm chips.

Koike aims to turn the standard practice of processing hundreds of wafers at a time on its head. By extracting data from a single wafer rather than hundreds, Rapidus plans to cut cycle time by eliminating production problems rapidly.

The company will also accelerate output using wafer bonding, a technique that is just beginning to win industry adoption.

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