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Japan going back to the future by reviving its chip industry
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When IBM PCs set the standard for personal computing and Madonna topped the charts, Japan led the semiconductor industry.
Key facts
- Over the weekend, Japan's Industry Ministry approved an additional ¥631.5 billion in funding ($3.96 billion USD) to advance development of Rapidus’ fab
- In early 2021, IBM showed off an experimental 2nm process node developed at its research lab in Albany, New York
- Alongside the IIM-1 Plant, Rapidus has also opened a new facility to conduct physical, environmental, and chemical analysis in collaboration with its partners
- It's not uncommon for major chip designers like Nvidia or AMD to deploy on “n-1 nodes
Summary
Now for the comeback: Japan is using demand for sovereign chip production to re-invent its chip industry. However, Rapidus isn't a wafer fab. "We have to solve these challenges of power and space and heat," Stephen DiFranco, who leads Rapidus' partner ecosystem and marketing team, told The Register. Alongside its fab, Rapidus is also developing its own advanced packaging capability, which should enable it to compete with giants Samsung, TSMC, and Intel.