[Chipformation] Japan Semiconductor 'Dream Team' Rapidus

2nm Competition Three-Way Race
TSMC's Differentiation from Samsung Electronics is 'Speed'

[Asia Economy Reporter Sunmi Park] "Our goal is the development and manufacturing of the world's most advanced logic semiconductors." This phrase appears on the homepage of the newly established Japanese semiconductor company 'Rapidus,' founded in August last year. Rapidus has thrown down the gauntlet to Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, which dominate the foundry market. They aim to create a competitive landscape with TSMC and Samsung Electronics using cutting-edge 2-nanometer (nm; 1 nm is one-billionth of a meter) semiconductors.

Although Rapidus is a startup, it is a kind of consortium formed by eight Japanese conglomerates with global competitiveness. Toyota, Kioxia, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, NEC, Denso, and Mitsubishi UFJ have come together. It can be called Japan's dream team. The headquarters is located in Tokyo, where securing talent is easier. As initial capital, they secured 7.346 billion yen (approximately 70.25 billion KRW) from the eight companies' investments and 70 billion yen (approximately 665 billion KRW) in government support funds.

True to its name Rapidus, which means 'fast' in Latin, the company is moving quickly with prototype production after its establishment. By next month, they plan to decide on a prototype mass production site in a region with stable infrastructure and excellent talent acquisition, and operate a 2-nanometer prototype production line in the first half of 2025. Their goal is to succeed in mass-producing 2-nanometer semiconductors before 2030. They plan to initially invest 2 trillion yen in establishing 2-nanometer chip production technology and 3 trillion yen in setting up mass production lines. The 2-nanometer semiconductors Rapidus aims to produce can be used in supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI), and are expected to offer up to 45% improved performance and 75% less energy consumption compared to the 7-nanometer chips currently produced by TSMC and Samsung Electronics.

Leveraging the characteristic of being a collective of globally competitive Japanese companies, their business partnerships for the success of 2-nanometer chip production are also top-notch. They have even penetrated IMEC, Europe's largest comprehensive semiconductor research institute, which Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited in June last year. Rapidus agreed on a technical partnership with IMEC at the end of last year and is working to secure next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technology through personnel dispatch. They also signed a business agreement with IBM in the United States to jointly develop semiconductors based on 2-nanometer processes and cooperate in market expansion.

Rapidus also plans to minimize the time it takes to deliver advanced semiconductors to customers. Atsuyoshi Koike, President of Rapidus, said, "Producing cutting-edge chips means that the design and product manufacturing processes take a long time," adding, "Rapidus will shorten the delivery time of advanced semiconductors to customers as much as possible through customer design support and mass production process adjustments." They emphasize 'speed' as a differentiating point from TSMC and Samsung Electronics, who dominate in volume. Koike, a semiconductor expert, has experience leading the Japanese subsidiary of the American semiconductor company Western Digital. He aims to make the startup Rapidus a company with a high-profit business model that mass-produces only advanced products.