When IBM PCs set the standard for personal computing and Madonna topped the charts, Japan led the semiconductor industry. But that 1980s dominance faded as the fabless design and foundry model evolved.
Now for the comeback: Japan is using demand for sovereign chip production to re-invent its chip industry.
Leading the charge is Rapidus. A relative newcomer to the foundry game, the company tells El Reg it's on track to begin mass production at its 2nm wafer fab in Hokkaido in the second half of 2027, just five years after the company’s founding.
The fledgling foundry has already made significant progress toward this goal. Last year, the IIM-1 fab began pilot production of 300mm wafers based on 2nm gate-all-around transistor tech.
However, Rapidus isn't just a wafer fab. Modern semiconductors are now assembled from multiple dies, often fabricated at different foundries that employ process technologies, necessitating the use of advanced packaging technologies to stitch them together.
"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. "It's not going to be solved by one thing, but one of those things is much more intelligent, multi-dimensional packaging."
Alongside its fab, Rapidus is also developing its own advanced packaging capability, which should enable it to compete with giants Samsung, TSMC, and Intel.
Oooooo, baby.
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