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Rapidus plans to send 2nm chips to Broadcom in June, says report

Rapidus plans to send 2nm chips to Broadcom in June, says report

Business news |
By Peter Clarke

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Japanese startup foundry Rapidus Inc. is planning to supply a 2nm prototype IC to US fabless chip company Broadcom in June, according to Nikkei.

The supply is part of push by Rapidus to secure customers for its foundry offering, which is based on a technology partnership with IBM. Rapidus was founded in 2022 as a national effort to get Japan back into the race to manufacture leading-edge silicon.

The market for leading-edge chip manufacturing is dominated by foundry TSMC. However, so large is the demand for leading-edge manufacturing from such customers as Nvidia and Apple that there may be an opportunity for other foundries to enter, or re-enter the market, if their manufacturing process technology is good enough.

Rapidus is building a wafer fab in Chitose City, Hokkaido. A ground-breaking ceremony was performed in August 2023 with a view to producing chips using a 2nm process by 2027. The company only took delivery of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography in December 2024.

The EUV lithography machine is unlikely to be fully commissioned by June so it remains unclear what level of complexity of prototype Rapidus could deliver. Rapidus said at the time that it planned to install the rest of the equipment for a pilot line for a 2nm generation gate-all-around (GAA) process in April 2025.

Rapidus taps Seiko Epson for chiplet cleanroom

At the 2nm node production is likely to be based on multiple die in so-called chiplet advanced manufacturing so there is scope for Rapidus to engage with Broadcom in multiple ways.

Nonetheless Nikkei said that Broadcom intends to evaluate the 2nm production process and potentially award production responsibilities to Rapidus. Broadcom is the second-largest semiconductor company by market capitalization behind Nvidia. It does not compete directly with Nvidia but supplies networking chips to data centers and has benefitted from the AI boom.

Rapidus may also produce 2nm chips for Japanese startup Preferred Networks, according to Chosun Biz. Additionally, Rapidus is pursuing collaborations with Taiwanese fabless companies Alchip and Unichip, the Korean business title said.

Related links and articles:

www.rapidus.inc

www.broadcom.com

News articles:

No date given for Samsung to supply Preferred Networks’ 2nm chips

Rapidus taps Fraunhofer for 2nm packaging technology

Rapidus expands IBM deal to cover chiplet packaging

TSMC begins trial 2nm production for Apple, say reports

Rapidus breaks ground on 2nm fab, goes on hiring spree

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