The chip venture Rapidus, which brings together some of the world’s biggest companies, is the “last opportunity” to put Japan’s once-dominant semiconductor sector back on the global map, Rapidus chairman Tetsuro Higashi said.
While the company has the financial firepower of the government behind it, he was under no illusions about the challenges ahead, Higashi said.
“The entire world is becoming digitized. It is becoming crucially important for Japan to build a very strong digital technology industry,” said Higashi, an industry veteran and the former president of Tokyo Electron, a major producer of tools to make chips.
Photo: Yuichi Yamazaki, AFP
“Japan is more than a decade behind others. It will require enormous money just to catch up,” he said.
Its government has promised up to ￥4 trillion (US$25.7 billion) in subsidies to help triple sales of domestically produced chips to more than ￥15 trillion by 2030.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), maker of half the world’s chips, has already benefited, opening a new fabrication plant in Japan in February and planning a second.
Japan’s government has committed ￥920 billion to Rapidus, a joint venture involving Sony, Toyota, IBM and others, which is now building its fab in Hokkaido.
The aim is to mass produce logic chips in Japan from 2027 using 2-nanometer technology, the next frontier in chips containing even more miniscule transistors.
TSMC and others are racing to reach full production for their 2-nanometer chips, which would be vital in powering the mooted revolution in artificial intelligence (AI).
Higashi is confident Rapidus can do it and makes no bones about what is at stake.
“This could be the last opportunity for Japan” to relaunch a competitive semiconductor industry, Higashi said.
By around 2027, global demand for advanced, energy-efficient semiconductors is expected to explode, as AI and digital technology further enter people’s daily lives, he said.
US tech firms like Google and OpenAI are also investing heavily in Japan in hopes that the country, once a world-beating technology pioneer, can regain its edge with AI.
Nvidia, whose chips dominate in AI, would do its best to supply Japan with its AI processors, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said.
However, Higashi said it is clear Japan must rely less on foreign supply.
“We are becoming a digital society. All kinds of industries in Japan will rely immensely on semiconductors,” Higashi said.
Japan was a big player in the semiconductor industry in the 1980s through early 1990s, commanding half of the global market with the likes of NEC Corp and Toshiba Corp leading the way.
Now, it only accounts for about 10 percent of the market. However, it remains a leader in chipmaking equipment and materials.
Japan’s aims also have a geopolitical angle. Similar to the US and others, Tokyo seeks to reduce its reliance on TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan, given fears of a Chinese invasion.
Meanwhile, the US wants to restrict the supply of next-generation chips to China and slow down Beijing’s AI drive.
While avoiding directly discussing geopolitics, Higashi said he expected firms in friendly nations, such as Japan and the US, to share tasks to maintain international supply chains.
“In Japan, like the US, there are many major production equipment firms and materials companies. They are dealing with customers that require very advanced products,” he said. “Those production-equipment makers and materials firms are providing their support to us.”
Its success should inspire young engineers to further grow Japan’s chip sector, Higashi added.
“We must create new semiconductors and inspire people that we can create a new world,” he said.
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