Rapidus Corp., a startup building a two-nanometer chip fab in Japan, is reportedly seeking new funding to support its construction efforts.
Bloomberg today cited sources as saying that the Tokyo-based company is looking to raise 100 billion yen, or about $700 million, from investors. Rapid reportedly hopes to secure four-fifths of the sum from its existing backers, which include Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Group Corp. The company intends to raise the rest from three financial institutions: Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and the Development Bank of Japan.
The company launched in 2022 with backing from Japan’s government to boost the country’s semiconductor sector. The company plans to build a chip fab in Hokkaido at an estimated cost of $5 trillion yen, or about $32 billion. The facility will produce not only processors but also packaging technology, which is used to link together multiple chips into a single product.
Rapidus hopes to start making two-nanometer chips at its Hokkaido fab by 2027. It plans to upgrade the facility to a more advanced 1.4-nanometer process at an unspecified future date.
The most advanced processors on the market are made using lithography machines from ASML Holding NV. Those machines are responsible for etching transistor-shaped patterns into silicon wafers. ASML’s newest lithography system, the High-NA Twinscan EXE, reportedly sells for nearly $400 million.
Rapidus currently has no plans to install the system in its fab. Instead, the company will make two-nanometer chips using ASML’s previous-generation lithography systems, which sell for less than half the price as the High-NA Twinscan EXE. Rapidus will reportedly also deploy robots and artificial intelligence software in the plant to speed up manufacturing operations.
The chipmaker is collaborating with IBM Corp. on the project. In 2021, the latter company was the first to demonstrate that two-nanometer transistors can be produced using a previous-generation ASML lithography machine of the kind that Rapidus plans to adopt. IBM’s experience in this area could streamline Rapidus’ efforts to bring its two-nanometer product lines online.
The Japanese government plans to support Rapidus with up to 920 billion yen, or $6.44 billion, in subsidies. After officials approved a $3.9 billion tranche earlier this year, Rapidus disclosed that it will use the funds to buy chipmaking equipment for a pilot processor production line. The company will also onboard IBM researchers to support the initiative, as well as start building the section of its fab that will make chip packaging components.
Other market players have also started laying the groundwork for two-nanometer and 1.4-nanometer production lines.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. both plan to start mass producing two-nanometer chips in 2025. Two years after that, the latter company hopes to start making chips based on a more advanced 1.4-nanometer process. TSMC is also developing a 1.4-nanometer process and the engineering effort was reportedly “well underway” as of last year, but the company has not yet specified when the technology is expected to enter mass production.