Japanese chipmaker Rapidus has indicated that it plans to use robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to create a fully automated production line in northern Japan for manufacturing 2-nanometer chips, which will be applied to advanced AI applications. According to Nikkei, the prototyping of 2-nanometer chips is expected to start next year, but mass production is likely to begin in 2027 at the earliest.
Rapidus stated that automated production will speed up the manufacturing process, allowing the delivery time of chips to be only one-third of that of its competitors. The semiconductor plant is expected to complete its external structure by October, and the EUV exposure equipment is scheduled to arrive in December.
Compared to other companies that have already established businesses in semiconductor plants, building a fully automated factory gives Rapidus a more significant advantage. Although the front-end chip manufacturing process is already highly automated, the back-end processes such as interconnection, packaging, and testing are still labor-intensive.
Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said that this will provide higher performance and faster delivery times for the same 2-nanometer products compared to other companies.
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Tom's Hardware pointed out that Rapidus is currently two years behind TSMC and Samsung, which are expected to start producing 2-nanometer chips in 2025. If Rapidus can deliver chips faster without sacrificing price and quality, it could secure a place in the market.
Despite the optimistic outlook, Rapidus still faces some difficulties in its operations. The company revealed that when it starts manufacturing prototypes in 2025, it will need 2 trillion yen (about 14 billion US dollars), and mass production will require at least 3 trillion yen (about 20 billion US dollars). Although it has received a subsidy of 920 billion yen from the Japanese government, private companies are still hesitant due to the lack of track record.
Atsuyoshi Koike pointed out that under the current circumstances, it is difficult for Rapidus to obtain private financing. The company is discussing how to make financing easier, such as government loan guarantee systems.
Japanese Prime Minister: Plans to provide government guarantee support for Rapidus in loan financing
It is reported that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during his visit to the construction site of the advanced semiconductor foundry enterprise Rapidus in Hokkaido yesterday that the government plans to provide loan guarantee support for this company.Fumio Kishida stated: "We will immediately submit a bill to the Diet that is necessary for the mass production of the next generation of semiconductors. The relevant authorities will start considering the substantive content and the submission timetable of the bill. (Through cooperation with the private sector) We will provide large-scale, planned, and focused investment support for investment and R&D for mass production over several fiscal years."
Fumio Kishida plans to submit the bill to the Diet during the extraordinary Diet session in the fall to ensure Japan's competitiveness in the field of cutting-edge semiconductors.
According to the timetable previously announced by Rapidus, the company plans to start operating the 2nm pilot production line in April 2025 and achieve mass production in 2027. To achieve this goal, the company needs 5 trillion yen (currently about 235.895 billion yuan).
Although Rapidus previously stated that by around 2036, the chip ecosystem established in Hokkaido will bring an economic impact of more than 18 trillion yen (currently about 849.222 billion yuan) to the region, its own future sales prospects are still unclear.
As a result, the Japanese banking industry lacks confidence in directly providing loans to Rapidus. If the Japanese government can provide guarantee support, it will reduce the resistance for Rapidus to obtain the funds needed for operation.
Japan's chip "ambition"
According to reports, as the global chip industry pattern changes and new chip technology architectures emerge, in order to seize the "last opportunity to master advanced chip manufacturing capabilities," the Japanese government has introduced a semiconductor strategy and formulated a "two-step" R&D plan for domestic 2nm process advanced chips.
The first step is to attract global advanced semiconductor companies such as TSMC to build factories in Japan, driving Japan's domestic mastery of relatively advanced chip manufacturing capabilities.
On this basis, the second step is to establish the chip manufacturer Rapidus, and master the manufacturing capabilities of 2nm process advanced chips through international technology cooperation.
This is an ambitious strategic plan. At present, Japan's domestic chip manufacturing level is still at the 40nm process level. If it develops in an orderly manner to the 2nm process, it needs to break through several technical thresholds from 40nm to 28nm, from 28nm to 7nm, from 7nm to 3nm, and from 3nm to 2nm. These technical thresholds are high, and giants such as TSMC and Samsung have taken more than 10 years to break through, while other major chip manufacturers such as Global Wafers have given up the R&D of chip manufacturing capabilities below 28nm due to the difficulty.Japan pins its hopes on international cooperation. To achieve the first step of its semiconductor strategy, Japan has invested nearly $7 billion to subsidize nearly 40% of TSMC's investment in two chip factories in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in order to acquire the technology and experience of global chip giants such as TSMC and upgrade Japan's chip manufacturing capabilities from 40nm to a level close to that of advanced chip manufacturers like Intel, which is around 7nm.
According to the plan, the two chip factories that TSMC is building in Japan will be used to produce 28nm and 7nm chips. Kanzaki Akira, the head of the Japan Semiconductor Strategy Promotion Parliamentary Alliance, explained Japan's intention to introduce TSMC to build factories. He said that the 28nm chip factory that TSMC is building in Japan is different from the 28nm chip factories that TSMC is building in other parts of the world, as it has the technology to manufacture chips close to 10nm. The Japanese corporate shareholders of these chip factories will ultimately receive and digest the related chip manufacturing technology.
The second step of Japan's semiconductor strategy is to catch up with the world's leading companies such as TSMC and Samsung by leveraging American technology. Chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel are researching and developing chips with a process of 2nm and below, which use a new generation of chip architecture called "Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistor" (GAAFET), different from the previous "FinFET" architecture. In 2021, IBM was the first to announce to the world the development of a 2nm chip prototype based on the GAAFET architecture. However, due to TSMC and other chip manufacturers following their own technology routes, IBM's 2nm chip technology was not immediately put to use. In 2022, Rapidus was established to seek the realization of 2nm chip technology, and thus it immediately cooperated with IBM. After negotiations with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, then-Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, and others, IBM was approved to export 2nm chip technology to Japan that year.
At present, the actual research and development of Japan's 2nm chips has not yet started, TSMC's chip factories in Japan have not yet been put into operation, and the training of Rapidus employees sent to the United States to learn IBM chip technology and to Europe to learn the use of lithography equipment has not been completed. However, the development of 2nm chips already has many favorable internal and external environments. From the perspective of Japan's domestic situation, the Japanese government attaches great importance to the research and development of cutting-edge chips, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has used its only subsidy policy for a single industry so far on the subsidy to Rapidus. From the perspective of the international environment, cutting-edge chip manufacturing equipment manufacturers such as ASML and top European chip technology research and development institutions such as the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) are actively cooperating with Rapidus. Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike is full of confidence in achieving the mass production target of 2nm chips, claiming that "Rapidus will shock the world."
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