"AI and Autonomous Driving, Core Competitiveness of Japanese Industry"
Rapidus, Joint Investment by 8 Major Japanese Corporations
The Japanese government, which is making every effort to revive the semiconductor industry, will provide additional support of up to 590 billion yen (approximately 5.27 trillion won) to its domestic semiconductor company Rapidus, according to a report by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 2nd.
According to the report, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Saito Gen announced this plan at a press conference held after the Cabinet meeting on the same day. Minister Saito stated, "Next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving will become core competitive strengths across Japanese industries," and added, "The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will also do its best to ensure the success of the project."
Of the newly allocated support funds of up to 590 billion yen, 537.5 billion yen will be assigned to semiconductor front-end processes, and 53.5 billion yen to back-end processes. Semiconductor processes are broadly divided into front-end processes, which involve wafer processing, and back-end processes, which involve packaging and testing operations. The front-end budget will be used for the construction of Rapidus's Hokkaido Chitose plant, the introduction of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, and dispatching engineers to Rapidus's partner, the American company IBM.
The back-end budget will be used for the development of advanced assembly technologies such as chiplets, which combine multiple semiconductors. From ultra-fine processes below 10 nanometers (nm; 1 nm = one billionth of a meter), there are limits to performance improvements through circuit miniaturization, so semiconductor companies are focusing on enhancing performance through packaging technologies. Nikkei noted that this is the first time the Japanese government has supported the development of back-end process technologies.
Rapidus was established in 2022 through a joint investment by eight leading Japanese companies, including Toyota, Kioxia, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, NEC, Denso, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, under the leadership of the Japanese government. Currently, it aims to mass-produce advanced 2 nm semiconductor chips starting in 2027, but Japan's current technological level remains at around 40 nm, making the achievement of this goal challenging.
Meanwhile, to revive its domestic semiconductor industry, the Japanese government established the "Semiconductor and Digital Industry Strategy" in 2021 and has been increasing subsidies for domestic semiconductor hubs. With this additional support decision for Rapidus, the company's cumulative support funds approach 920 billion yen (approximately 8.2 trillion won). This is the second-largest scale after TSMC, which receives about 1.2 trillion yen in support for its Kumamoto Plants 1 and 2 combined.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
