In order to catch up with TSMC, Rapidus plans to trial produce 2nm semiconductors as early as 2025

On January 26, according to Nikkei News, the Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus plans to establish a trial production line as early as the first half of 2025, using this production line to establish the production technology of 2-nanometer semiconductors used in supercomputers, etc., and start in the second half of 2020 mass production process. The company will catch up with world-class semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, which plans to mass-produce "2nm products" in 2025.

Looking back at the beginning of this month, it was reported that Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, who was visiting the United States, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo will jointly listen to the report on the cooperation plan between IBM and Rapidus. Rapidus is responsible for manufacturing the processors in IBM's high-performance computers. At present, the processors designed by IBM are mainly provided by Samsung.

It is understood that in order to produce next-generation semiconductors for supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI) in Japan, about 10 companies including Toyota Motor, Sony Group, and NTT jointly established a new company, Rapidus, to jointly promote technology development and cooperate with Competition in Japanese foreign markets.

In addition to Toyota and other three companies, Softbank, NEC, Denso, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, and Kioxia will also contribute. It is understood that the project not only focuses on research and development and production of semiconductors, but also plans to cultivate talents to support the semiconductor industry.

Rapidus aims to mass-produce 2nm manufacturing technology, and the current mass-produced products are advancing to 3nm. The plan is to set up a production line in the late 2020s and start manufacturing semiconductors around 2030. Although companies such as TSMC are mass producing 3nm process products, Japanese factories can only produce 40nm products at present. It can be seen that the establishment of Rapidus aims to improve the local semiconductor manufacturing level in Japan.

Prior to this, the Japanese government also passed 617 billion yen in funding to support the establishment of local factories. TSMC's new factory in Kumamoto, Japan is under construction. According to reports, the total investment of TSMC's Kumamoto plant is US$8.6 billion, of which the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan will subsidize up to US$3.2 billion.