Atsushi Sumikawa
Japanese chipmakers gained supremacy in the global market during the 1980s. However, as the market evolved and new competitors emerged in East Asia, the country fell out in the race for advanced logic chip manufacturing. Today, Japan lags behind the world’s leading edge by as much as two decades.
The need to rebuild the domestic chipmaking industry has gained urgency among Japanese policymakers for strategic reasons. The supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of global semiconductor supplies.
Likewise, rising geopolitical risks – such as cross-strait tensions and China-U.S. competition – suggest the vulnerabilities of certain supply chain bottlenecks. With the global explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, advanced semiconductors are also regarded as a key driver of broader economic growth.
At the heart of Japan’s economic strategy, Rapidus was founded in 2022 by the joint funding of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and a group of eight leading corporations, including household names like Toyota Motors, NTT, Sony, and Softbank Group. Through aggressive investment and drawing best knowledge worldwide,
Rapidus aims to achieve mass production of today’s most advanced 2-nanometer process node logic chips in as little as five years. In April, the company activated its pilot production line in its newly constructed production site in Hokkaido, Japan. It plans to deliver its first prototypes as early as this July.
Despite the huge expectations it carries, Rapidus’ project has raised as much skepticism as it has hope. Given that advanced semiconductor production is one of the most complicated and capital-intensive industries in modern times, many point to the difficulty for a newcomer like Rapidus to achieve technological maturity on a compressed timeline.
Furthermore, many doubt Rapidus’ ability to break into the competition with existing players in the fierce global chip market. To successfully develop 2-nm chip production capability and embody the country’s semiconductor revival, Rapidus must overcome at least three key hurdles.
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