September 1, loud BloombergOn the island of Hokkaido in Japan, a groundbreaking ceremony took place here for the company of the young company Rapidus, which will establish the production of 2 nm products on behalf of third-party customers by 2027. Rapidus representatives said that the company had already hired more than 200 specialists.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi. Image Credit: Bloomberg, Shoko Takayasu
Rapidus was founded just a year ago by a consortium of Japanese companies that may include future customers such as Sony, NTT, NEC and others. According to Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike: “An opportunity like this comes only once in a thousand years, an opportunity like this will never come again”and relates to the organization of advanced semiconductor component production in Japan. By December 2024, Rapidus intends to install process equipment in the company’s workshops under construction and begin trial production of 2nm products. Series production is scheduled to take place within four years. Such a goal, according to company officials, although scary, is quite achievable with the support of foreign partners and domestic equipment suppliers.
Keep in mind that Rapidus’ main “technology donor” will be IBM Corporation. The Dutch supplier of lithography scanners ASML and the American manufacturer of lithography devices Lam Research took part in the laying of the foundation stone for the new facility. A total of around 130 people took part in the event. Japan’s Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said technology is the “key” to the country’s international competitiveness and pledged to provide financial support to Rapidus. The country’s government has already provided the company with around 2.3 billion US dollars.
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