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Japan has approved about 590 billion yen ($3.9 billion) in subsidies to domestic chip company Rapidus, as part of the country’s efforts to boost semiconductor production, Bloomberg News reported
The additional funds will help Rapidus purchase chip manufacturing equipment and also develop an advanced backend chip manufacturing processes, said Economy Minister Ken Saito relationship.
The Japanese government has already allocated 330 billion yen to the startup, which is based in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo and is building a factory in Chitose City, Hokkaido.
Up to 536.5 billion yen of the new subsidies will be used to install pilot line equipment at Rapidus’ Chitose plant, hire researchers from IBM (IBM), reduce lead times, and establish a production control system. production, as required by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The remaining ¥53.5 billion will be used to develop advanced packaging technologies to help combine different chips to generate more capacity. Packaging is an area that is attracting more and more attention as putting multiple transistors on a single chip of silicon becomes increasingly expensive, the report adds.
The aid would help the company reach its goal of mass-producing semiconductors using 2-nanometer processes by 2027 and achieve production cycles twice as fast as rivals, Rapidus President Atsuyoshi Koike said, according to the report .
In February, it was reported that Japan’s Ministry of Commerce planned to spend up to 45 billion yen (about $301 million) to support a research team, including Rapidus, to advance semiconductor technology.
The overall financial aid is expected to help Rapidus compete with larger rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) and Samsung Electronics (OTCPK:SSNLF).
The financing is part of about 4 trillion yen that Japan has set aside over the past three years to regain ground in the chip-making arena, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida targeting 10 trillion yen in financial aid to chipmakers , together with the private sector, the report adds.
The Asian nation has earmarked billions of dollars for the first TSM factory in Kumamoto, Japan, and also for Micron Technology’s (MU) expansion at its Hiroshima plant to produce advanced DRAM.
Several Taiwanese chip companies have reportedly headed to Japan, not only to help the second TSM (TSM) plant, but also due to positive signs coming from the Asian country as it seeks to expand its semiconductor industry, it reported Reuters.
Last month it was reported that TSM is considering building advanced packaging capacity in Japan. One option being explored was to bring its chip on wafer on substrate, or CoWoS, packaging technology to the country.