Japan’s industry ministry wants to put another Y400B into Rapidus across the three fiscal years from 2027, according to a plan laid out this week at a subcommittee of the Fiscal System Council.
The money would lift total state support for the Tokyo-based foundry to Y650B, on top of Y250B already committed. Officials are seeking Y150B in the fiscal 2027 budget request, then Y150B in 2028 and Y100B in 2029.
Why equity instead of a grant
The funding is structured as equity rather than subsidy, and that detail matters. A thicker capital base makes it easier for Rapidus to borrow from commercial banks, which have so far been cautious about a company with no shipped product.
The target is mass production of 2nm logic in fiscal 2027, followed by a 1.4nm generation. Rapidus operates a pilot line at Chitose on the northern island of Hokkaido.
The competition it is chasing
Rapidus is attempting in a few years what TSMC, Samsung and Intel built over decades, and the gap is measured in customers rather than transistors. The company has been assembling a design ecosystem around the planned line, signing up partner firms before silicon exists.
Japan once led the world in memory production before ceding the market to Korean and later Chinese manufacturers. The current bet is that state patience plus a single advanced logic capability can carve out a role in the AI supply chain.
The budget request still has to clear the finance ministry and the cabinet. If it does, the public share of Rapidus becomes one of the largest single government positions in any chipmaker outside China.
