Japanese and US companies formed an extensive partnership to produce 2nm semiconductors over the next few years. Japanese chip startup Rapidus wants to compete with Taiwanese industry leader TSMC thanks to its IBM partnership.Earlier this week, Atsuyoshi Koike, head of Japanese chip startup Rapidus, said they plan to build a prototype production line for 2nm semiconductors by the first half of 2025. TSMC, the leader of the sector, aims to switch to 2nm mass production in 2025.
Japanese Rapidus partnership with IBM
On the other hand, Rapidus and IBM announced in December that they had formed an alliance. As part of the partnership, the 2nm semiconductor design that IBM first introduced in 2021 will be developed. IBM’s 2nm process promises to fit 50 billion transistors in a fingernail-sized chip and deliver a 45 percent performance increase over 7nm. In addition, this production process consumes 75% less energy than 7nm at the same performance level. Meanwhile, IBM usually does not manufacture its own chips and instead licenses its designs to its partners.
However, Rapidus’ 2nm mass production targets will take some more time to come true. Long-term goals mark the end of the 2020s, according to the company’s president. Therefore, intense competition with TSMC does not seem possible in the short term.We can say that there will be a much greater competition in the semiconductor industry in the coming years. Intel has already announced that it sees the semiconductor industry as more valuable than oil. In this context, Intel is looking to launch the 20 Ångström (20A) in 2024 to catch up with TSMC. Note that the Intel 20A is essentially a renamed 2nm.
On the other hand, Samsung has already started to produce chips in the 3nm process like TSMC for a while. Both companies aim to move to the advanced 3nm process by the end of 2024 or 2023. In 2025, both companies aim for 2nm mass production. Samsung also announced last October that it aims to reach 1.4nm by 2027.
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