Rapidus: We Want To Serve TSMC's Customers, But We Won't Be Like TSMC
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Rapidus, a semiconductor consortium backed by the Japanese government and industrial conglomerates, plans to start high-volume production of chips on its 2nm fabrication process in 2027. In a bid to ensure that all of its production capacity is used, Rapidus wants to land orders from at least one global company, essentially competing with TSMC and other foundries. But at the same time, Rapidus does not plan to be like TSMC.
[...] In a bid to recoup production node R&D costs and fab costs, one needs to produce a boatload of chips on a leading-edge node and Japanese companies may not generate significant demand for such parts. Which is why Rapidus needs to land orders from a multinational like Apple or AWS.
"We are looking for a U.S. partner, and we have begun discussions with some GAFAM [Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft] corporations," said Atsuyoshi Koike, chief executive of Rapidus, in an interview withNikkei. "Specifically, there is demand [for chips] from data centers [and] right now, TSMC is the only company that can make the semiconductors they envision. That is where Rapidus will enter."
[...] Interestingly, Rapidus is not looking forward serving dozens of companies, but only intends to serve five to 10 clients.
[...] It remains to be seen whether 5 to 10 companies can generate enough demand to recoup tens of billions of dollars that Rapidus will need to invest to start 2nm production in 2027. Meanwhile, winning even five customers with significant 2nm orders in 2027 will be quite difficult, since the number of companies willing to invest in designs to be made on a leading-edge node is fairly limited.
Then again, from Japanese government point of view, Rapidus is meant to rejuvenate the leading-edge semiconductor supply chain in the country - so even if the company's 2nm node does not turn out to be a triumph, it will still pave the way for successors and open new doors to local chip designers.
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