The archive · Hardware & Devices · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Rapidus bets Japan can leap to 2nm; test wafers done, ¥7T question open
Japan's 2022 consortium foundry licensed IBM's 2nm process, showed working test wafers in July 2025, and is racing a 2027 mass-production date.
Rapidus Corp.（株式会社Rapidus）
What the business is
State-backed Japanese foundry aiming to mass-produce 2nm logic chips at its IIM-1 fab in Chitose, Hokkaido, using IBM-licensed technology.
Starting capital：Initial ¥7.3B from 8 companies (Toyota, NTT, SoftBank, Sony, NEC, Denso, Kioxia, MUFG); government subsidy commitment up to ¥1.7 trillion
How it started
Rapidus was founded in August 2022 by eight Japanese companies — Toyota, NTT, SoftBank, Sony Group, NEC, Denso, Kioxia and MUFG Bank — with ¥7.3 billion, after Japan concluded it had no domestic player able to make leading-edge logic chips. The bet was to jump straight to 2nm using IBM's licensed process and build a fab in Chitose, Hokkaido with government backing, aiming for mass production in 2027.
What happened
Ground broke on IIM-1 in September 2023; the cleanroom was completed in 2024 and ASML's NXE:3800E EUV lithography tool arrived in December 2024. The pilot line started in April 2025, and by June more than 200 semiconductor tools were installed. In July 2025 Rapidus announced test wafers with 2nm gate-all-around transistors, saying early electrical characteristics met expectations; it kept the 2027 mass-production target and planned a process design kit for Q1 2026. The government committed subsidies of up to ¥1.7 trillion and planned a ¥100 billion equity investment in FY2025; in December 2025 more than 20 companies including Honda, Canon, Kyocera, Fujitsu and several banks agreed to become shareholders, bringing the count to about 30 and meeting the ¥130 billion private-investment target for FY2025.
How it ended up
Still in progress: Rapidus has produced working 2nm test wafers but has not started mass production; it and the government are sticking to a 2027 target, with total funding needs estimated at ¥5–7 trillion through FY2031.
Background
Rapidus is Japan's bet that a new foundry can skip the mature-node business entirely and leap straight to 2nm. Founded in August 2022 by eight Japanese companies — Toyota, NTT, SoftBank, Sony, NEC, Denso, Kioxia and MUFG Bank — with ¥7.3 billion, it licensed IBM's 2nm process and broke ground on its IIM-1 fab in Chitose, Hokkaido, in September 2023, aiming to mass-produce by 2027.
The government underwrote the scale: subsidies committed up to ¥1.7 trillion, a ¥100 billion equity investment planned in FY2025, and total funding needs estimated at ¥5–7 trillion through FY2031, of which roughly ¥1 trillion is meant to come from private investors. In December 2025 more than 20 additional companies — Honda, Canon, Kyocera, Fujitsu, banks and regional utilities — agreed to become shareholders, bringing the count to about 30 and meeting the ¥130 billion FY2025 private-investment target.
On the technical side, ASML's EUV lithography tool arrived in December 2024, the pilot line started in April 2025, and by July 2025 Rapidus announced 2nm gate-all-around test wafers with electrical characteristics meeting expectations. It still targets 2027 mass production, with a process design kit due in Q1 2026; whether the fab can convert prototypes into reliable yield at scale, against TSMC, Samsung and Intel, remains the open question.
What has to be true
- Japan had no domestic leading-edge logic maker, so a consortium-plus-government structure was the only realistic way to fund a foundry.
- Licensing IBM's 2nm process let Rapidus skip generations of R&D it could not afford to replicate.
- Single-wafer processing and small-batch service target the flexible customers the giants ignore, giving a new entrant a wedge.
- Only a ¥5–7 trillion capital commitment could make a 2027 mass-production date plausible, so the government became the anchor investor.
What can be applied
A generation-leap needs both technology and patient capital: Japan paired an IBM license with trillion-yen support, but the bet still rides on the 2027 date.
Aftermath
As of the verified sources (December 2025), Rapidus had produced its first 2nm test wafers at IIM-1 and was racing toward the 2027 mass-production target, with a process design kit planned for Q1 2026. Shareholders had grown from the founding 8 companies to about 30 after the December 2025 additions, meeting the FY2025 ¥130 billion private-investment goal; government support stood at up to ¥1.7 trillion in subsidies plus a planned ¥100 billion equity investment, and total funding needs through FY2031 were estimated at ¥5–7 trillion. No production revenue had been announced.
Sources
- 先进EUV到货半年后 日本“芯片国家队”展示2nm工艺原型芯片
- Rapidus新增获得20余家日本企业出资
- Japan govt to invest 100 billion yen in Rapidus in 2025
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