The Japanese Government will provide an extra ¥631.5 billion (US$4 billion) to Rapidus to develop the next generation of computer chips.
The announcement was made by Japan's industry ministry and the Government-backed semiconductor manufacturer on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
The support from the ministry’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) brings total research and development assistance to the company to ¥2.354 trillion.
The ministry also said NEDO had decided to support semiconductor design-related projects by Fujitsu (TYO: 6702) and IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) IBM Japan.
"We will spare no effort in providing support necessary to ensure the (mass production) plan's success," Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa was quoted as saying in this nippon.com story.
Akazawa was speaking at the opening ceremony of a Rapidus semiconductor analysis facility in Chitose in the prefecture of Hokkaido on Saturday.
Rapidus Corporation plans to begin mass production of 2-nanometer chips in the 2027 financial year.
Japan dominated the semiconductor industry in the 1980s, but with this financial assistance, it aims to restore domestic chip production, secure supply chains and compete in next-generation chips used in large artificial intelligence models.
