With the support of the Japanese government and major consortiums, Rapidus has launched the only semiconductor factory in Japan that manufactures advanced silicon processes. It plans to start 2nm trial production in 2025 and mass production in 2027, which is only 2 years behind the industry giant TSMC.
Rapidus CEO Junyoshi Koike told Nikkei in an interview that he is in talks to supply semiconductors to some of the largest U.S. technology companies. “We are looking for an American partner and we have started talking to some GAFAM companies. Specifically, there is demand from data centers,” he said.
Rapidus was established in August 2022. It was jointly funded by eight Japanese companies including Toyota, Sony, NTT, NEC, Softbank, Denso, Kioxia, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank.
Koike Junyi, president of Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus, previously said: It is planned to build a 2nm prototype line by the first half of 2025 at the earliest. It will take 2 trillion yen to establish the technology, and 3 trillion yen will be needed to prepare for the mass production line.
The first prototype of this 2nm semiconductor trial production line will be completed in 2025, and then mass production will begin in 2027, in order to catch up with world-class semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC as soon as possible, and the latter plans to mass produce 2nm process technology in 2025.
It is worth mentioning that the technical difficulty required for 2nm mass production is greatly improved compared with existing technologies. Although TSMC has a factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, this semiconductor factory, which is scheduled to start mass production in 2024, can only produce 12-28 nanometer products.
In addition, Rapidus signed a technology licensing agreement with IBM in the United States at the end of 2022, and IBM has successfully trial-produced 2nm products in 2021. Rapidus will send employees to the United States in the near future to master the required basic technologies.
Koike Junyi previously stated that the Rapidus expert team now has about 100 people, and the first batch has completed relevant training in IBM in New York State. IBM, a major technology contributor to Rapidus, demonstrated a storage prototype made with 2nm technology in 2021.
Rapidus plans to develop a “Rapidus Edition” manufacturing technology based on IBM’s 2nm process technology, start trial production of logic semiconductors in 2025, and mass-produce in 2027. Production technologies for Rapidus releases are focused on two main areas:
"High-Performance Computing (HPC)" Chips Expected to Grow in Demand
"Ultra Low Power" chips predicting the future of smartphonesKoike Junyi said in the interview that Rapidus will independently test and package the semiconductor components it manufactures, which will not only shorten the length of the production cycle, but also increase profits.
Rapidus hopes to implement rapid feedback on the processing of each silicon wafer, which will greatly speed up the process of identifying defects and problems, and ultimately speed up the time-to-market of finished products.
It is said that Rapidus will not compete with TSMC, but prefers to continue to be a niche manufacturer focusing on the server field, the automotive industry, communication networks, quantum computing and smart cities.
