Rapidus

History

2024: Japan set aside $3.9 billion to rescue company

On April 2, 2024, the Japanese Ministry of Industry approved a plan to support the contract chipmaker Rapidus. This company, which is experiencing serious difficulties, will receive 590 billion yen for development (approximately $3.89 billion as of this date).

Rapidus is expected to organize the production of microchips using advanced technologies in Japan by 2027. We are talking, in particular, about the norms of 2 nanometers. The company will be built in the city of Titos, located on the island of Hokkaido. The main goal of the project is to revive the national semiconductor industry. Rapidus is expected to compete with Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung.

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Rapidus received 330 billion yen (about $2.17 billion) from the Japanese government from 2022 to 2023. As part of a new round of financial support from 590 billion yen to 53.5 billion yen ($0.35 billion), it will go to research and development related to the production of chips, in particular, with their packaging. Rapidus said its staff began research work in collaboration with IBM in April 2023.

A Japanese government report released in March 2024 said the country held more than half of the global semiconductor market in the 1980s, but it has since lost ground. While factories in other parts of the world are massively producing 3nm chips as of early 2024, the most advanced technology in Japan is a technique with 40nm norms. The authorities are making significant efforts to change the current situation and restore influence in the industry. In February 2024, with the support of the Japanese government, TSMC opened its first plant in this country: its customers will include Sony and Renesas corporations.^[1]

2023: $54 billion investment estimate for mastering mass microchip production

The Japanese state-owned Rapidus chip company will need about 7 trillion yen (approximately $54 billion at the exchange rate as of February 3, 2023) to master mass production of microchips. This became known in early February 2023.

According to Reuters, Tetsuro Higashi, chairman of the board of directors of Rapidus, spoke about plans to organize the release of chips. According to him, we are talking about the deployment of production lines using 2-nm technology. The most advanced operating semiconductor plant in Japan is a 40nm facility owned by Renesas Electronics.

A state-owned chipmaker company has been created in Japan. It needs $54 billion to start production

The Rapidus project will be implemented with the participation of IBM. The funds in the amount of $54 billion needed to create the plant are planned to be received mainly at the expense of taxpayers. Eight corporations with small stakes in Rapidus, including Toyota Motor and Sony Group, are unlikely to provide any money, Higashi said.

They are future customers. They will make the decision to invest after they can evaluate our technologies and production plans, "Tetsuro Higashi said.

Rapidus will reveal the location of its first plant in March 2023. It is known that it is planned to build it on the island of Kyushu near the site that it chose for its new enterprise. TSMC This plant of the Taiwanese company will produce chips using 12nm and 28nm technologies for automotive electronic engineers and other devices. Rapidus intends to initially focus on advanced products for energy efficient and high-performance equipment. The plan could be a chance for Japan to revive the aging semiconductor industry. Rapidus is expected to start producing products in 2027.^[2]

2022: Establishing a company

In mid-November 2022, the Japanese Ministry of Industry announced the creation of a new research center as part of a joint project with the United States. We are talking about a new company Rapidus, which will develop the next generation chips.

A consortium of eight Japanese companies has invested in Rapidus, which the Japanese government hopes will help the country return to advanced chip production, according to local reports. The company was set up at a press conference held by Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. The future research center will be joined by the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the RIKEN State Research Institute and the University of Tokyo.

Japan has created a state-owned company Rapidus to develop chips

The companies - Toyota, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, Kioxia, Denso, NEC and MUFG Bank - invested a total of about $51.5 million in the formation of the company, it said. The chairman of the company is the former president of Tokyo Electron, Tetsuro Higashi, which manufactures chip equipment.

As semiconductors become increasingly important in terms of economic security, we want to strengthen the competitiveness of the Japanese semiconductor industry through partnerships with the United States and other foreign research centers. We will promote investment and ensure the creation of chip supply chains in Japan, "said Japanese Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

In addition, the Japanese government intends to allocate Rapidus about $490 million in subsidies to support the project to develop 2-nm chips in conjunction with. The IBM Japanese government is likely to invest billions more dollars in the future and wants to involve both American and European chip-related companies in the project Reuters , the publication reports citing an unnamed government official. The supplier of lithographic equipment ASML Holdings NV is one of the few European companies that can contribute.^[3]

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