en.Wedoany.com Reported - Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ryo Akazawa, announced on April 11, 2026, while attending the opening ceremony of the Rapidus Analysis Center and R&D Base in Chitose City, Hokkaido, that an additional 631.5 billion yen (approximately 27 billion RMB) in support for the Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus for the 2026 fiscal year has been approved. This additional funding brings the Japanese government's total R&D support for Rapidus from 2022 to 2026 to 2.354 trillion yen. Ryo Akazawa emphasized that the project, which involves significant taxpayer funds, must be successful.
Rapidus was established in August 2022 with joint investment from eight Japanese companies: Toyota Motor Corporation, Sony Group, NTT, NEC, SoftBank, Denso, Kioxia, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. It is tasked with the strategic mission of rebuilding Japan's advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. The company aims to commence production of 2-nanometer process chips in the second half of the 2027 fiscal year and achieve full-scale mass production in the 2028 fiscal year. Its pilot production line began operations in April 2025, with an initial planned monthly capacity of 6,000 wafers, aiming to increase to 25,000 wafers per month approximately one year after mass production begins. Rapidus plans to start with 2-nanometer mass production and advance to more advanced 1.4-nanometer and 1.0-nanometer process mass production every two to three years. In February 2026, Rapidus had received a total investment of 167.6 billion yen from 32 private companies.
Rapidus's 2-nanometer process adopts the gate-all-around transistor architecture and backside power delivery technology jointly developed with IBM. The cleanroom construction for its IIM-1 factory in Chitose City, Hokkaido, has been completed, and extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment arrived and began installation and debugging in December 2024. Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike stated at the ceremony that the company is committed to starting mass production in the 2027 fiscal year and revealed that process verification for the 2-nanometer pilot production line has already begun. This analysis center will undertake the analysis of materials and processes to accelerate the transition from R&D to mass production.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry also announced that it will provide up to 76 billion yen in funding support to Fujitsu and IBM Japan. Both companies are dedicated to developing energy-efficient semiconductors for artificial intelligence, with manufacturing expected to be entrusted to Rapidus. The ministry will also allocate tens of billions of yen for back-end process technology R&D and plans to provide funding support for chip packaging development. Rapidus is currently in business negotiations with approximately 50 potential clients, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and high-performance computing.
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