Rapidus 2nm fab plan exposed, Japan or the birth of the first 2nm fab

Rapidus was created with a $510 million subsidy from the Japanese government and donations from Toyota, Sony, Kioxia, NEC, NTT, SoftBank, and Denso, with $6.8 million invested by each company.

According to TV Tokyo, Japan’s Rapidus is considering building its first manufacturing plant in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
Rapidus is a joint venture led by technology companies such as Sony Group Corporation and NEC Corporation to improve the country’s competitiveness in the advanced semiconductor sector and seek to regain the leading position in the Japanese semiconductor industry. It is said that Rapidus is about to officially decide on the location of a new plant, which may include Chitose City, which has a population of about 100,000 in southwestern Hokkaido.
Rapidus was created with a $510 million subsidy from the Japanese government and donations from Toyota, Sony, Kioxia, NEC, NTT, SoftBank, and Denso, with $6.8 million invested by each company.
But that’s just a drop in the bucket, as TSMC, for example, says it will spend about $34 billion to create their next 2nm fab.
Rapidus has revealed that it needs about 7 trillion yen ($54 billion) to begin mass production of advanced logic chips around 2027.
Japan and the United States fear that friction with China could lead to semiconductor shortages that could threaten economic growth. Following a semiconductor technology cooperation agreement in Japan and the United States, Rapidus announced a partnership with IBM in December 2022 to develop and produce two-nanometer chips. While Rapidus had no prior experience in mass-producing state-of-the-art semiconductors, IBM’s help would have accelerated their plans and increased the likelihood of success.