Japan adds 631.5bn yen more to support Rapidus 2nm chip production
The new package lifts cumulative state support to 2.454tn yen as Rapidus works towards refining prototypes and launching 2-nanometre mass production in fiscal
- Japan's government will provide an additional 631.5 billion yen in funding to chipmaker Rapidus Corp. to support its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip production.
- The new funds are primarily designated for prototype refinement, with 514.1 billion yen for front-end processes and 117.4 billion yen for back-end processes.
- This latest assistance brings Japan's total cumulative state support for Rapidus to 2.454 trillion yen since fiscal 2022.
- Rapidus aims to use the support to begin mass production of its 2nm chips in fiscal 2027.
Japan will provide 631.5 billion yen in additional assistance to Tokyo-based chipmaker Rapidus Corp., which is developing next-generation semiconductors, the industry ministry said Saturday (April 11).
As the company aims to start mass production of 2-nanometer chips in fiscal 2027, it will use the funding mainly for prototype refinement.
The cumulative state support for Rapidus since fiscal 2022 will total up to 2,454 billion yen.
"We will spare no effort in providing support necessary to ensure the (mass production) plan's success," industry minister Ryosei Akazawa said at the opening ceremony of a semiconductor analysis facility established by Rapidus in the city of Chitose in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Saturday.
Semiconductor manufacturing is divided into front-end and back-end processes. Of the additional state support, 514.1 billion yen will be allocated for the front-end process of forming circuits on wafers, while 117.4 billion yen will be used for the back-end process of assembling final products.
The new analysis facility is located next to a plant where a prototype production line for the front-end process is in operation. The facility will analyse the semiconductors produced at the plant and help improve yield rates, which will determine the profitability in mass production.
"We are on track to achieve quality and yield targets at the fastest possible pace," Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said in a press conference.
The company also announced that it will start full-scale operation of a back-end process research and development hub, aiming to establish technologies such as "chiplet," which efficiently stacks multiple semiconductor chips.
Meanwhile, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), a national research and development corporation, has decided to provide about 76 billion yen in support for a development plan for artificial intelligence-related semiconductors by Fujitsu Ltd. and IBM Japan Ltd. In the future, the companies are expected to entrust manufacturing to Rapidus.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
