Japan approves additional $4 billion for chipmaker Rapidus

Japan's industry ​ministry said on Saturday ​it has approved an ​additional 631.5 billion yen ($3.96 billion) to accelerate research and development at chipmaker Rapidus.

The ‌support ⁠is part ⁠of the government's efforts to ​boost domestic production of advanced semiconductors and strengthen chip ​supply chains.

With the latest funding, Rapidus' total research and development ​assistance amounts to ⁠2.354 trillion ‌yen.


The ministry also ​said that ​NEDO, its subordinate organisation, ⁠the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development ​Organization, has decided to support ​semiconductor design-related projects by Fujitsu and IBM Japan.

Rapidus is working on the development of next-generation logic semiconductors at the ‌2-nanometre scale and plans to start mass production in the ​fiscal ​year 2027.

In ⁠February, the company secured a combined investment of about 160 billion yen from ​private companies, with a planned 250 billion yen from the government.