Japan wants to be fast and is getting serious, regardless of possible antitrust regulations: a state-funded group of companies, together with the newly founded Leading Edge Semiconductor Technology Center (LSTC) institute, wants to develop its own production process for 2 nm chips with Gate All Around (GAA) transistors - with US support. Even finer processes are to follow. Such components are to be mass-produced in Japan by 2030.
According to an announcement by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, the new group of companies, which currently has eight members, is called Rapidus. After TSMC, Samsung and Intel, it would be the world's fourth chip manufacturer that wants to and can mass-produce semiconductor components using 2 nm technology. The Rapidus group includes: Kioxia Holdings (formerly Toshiba, the world's second largest NAND flash provider), NEC, Sony Group, Toyota Motor (with its own research for automotive semiconductors), Denso (automotive supplier with interests in semiconductor plants), NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Japan's largest telecommunications company), Softbank (telecommunications and media group) and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), made the official announcement at a press conference on November 11 and promised funding of 70 billion yen (490 million euros). MUFJ Bank is contributing funds amounting to 2.1 million euros, and the seven other companies are each contributing 7 million euros. This means a total of just over 500 million euros at the starting point for the time being. Further investors are expected.
Not exactly a lot in view of the national funding available in the USA and other high-tech regions (soon also from the EU). However, Rapidus will also benefit from the LSTC, which is supported by the Japanese government with 350 billion yen (2.45 billion euros). The head of Rapidus and LSTC is Tetsuro Higashi, formerly in a senior position at Tokyo Electron.
The USA is providing Rapidus with benevolent partnership support: among others, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and IBM are participating in the development of Rapidus technology. IBM has transferred its semiconductor production to Globalfoundries, but continues to research modern process technology with a renowned team - in May 2021, IBM demonstrated a test wafer with 2 nm structures.
Another advantage of Rapidus' location: unlike China and Russia, Japanese companies can purchase and use the latest lithography systems from ASML, which expose wafers with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths. Rapidus plans to start setting up an EUV production line before the end of 2022. Production is scheduled to start in 2025. This comes close to the position of TSMC and Samsung: they already produce chips with 3 nm dimensions and also want to offer 2 nm chips by 2025. Rapidus would give them a fast competitor.
For Japan, Rapidus would mean regaining its leading position in chip production. In the 1990s, Japanese companies were among the largest producers of semiconductor components, but have disappeared from the scene since the turn of the millennium, just like Europe. But perhaps the EU will also find a jointly supported super-fast catch-up strategy.
