Geopolitical tensions keep making headlines, with Japan trying to catch up on advanced nodes capabilities to gain more independence from foreign suppliers. Western world investments in new fabs continue, with Infineon planning for the construction of a factory for 300-millimeter analog/mixed-signal and power semiconductors in Dresden, Germany. More news this week include three interesting academic research works.
Japanese government to subsidize a new domestic chipmaker
As reported by The Japan Times, eight major Japanese companies have jointly invested to launch a new firm, named Rapidus, tasked with developing 2-nanometer chips by 2027, in collaboration with IBM. The eight companies – Toyota, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, Kioxia, Denso, NEC and MUFG Bank – invested a total of ¥7.3 billion ($52 million) to form the new venture, which is chaired by Tetsuro Higashi, former president of chip equipment firm Tokyo Electron. The Japanese government plans to provide the new company with ¥70 billion ($500 million) in subsidies, backed by a second extra budget. Japan will also create a new body for chip research and development called ‘Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center’ (LSTC) by the year’s end, consisting of Japan’s major research bodies and universities. Reportedly, analysts are skeptical about the success of Rapidus, as the financial support promised by the Japanese government so far is much smaller than the amounts set out by the U.S. and the European Union for their ‘chips acts’, $52.7 billion and €43 billion ($45 billion) respectively.
