Eight major Japanese companies, including Toyota Motor Corporation, the Sony Group, and NTT, have jointly established a new company aimed at the domestic production of advanced semiconductors, as the competition to develop next-generation semiconductors intensifies worldwide. became.
We are aiming for mass production of cutting-edge semiconductors, which are becoming increasingly important for economic security, in five years.
According to people involved, the name of the new company is "Rapidus", and eight domestic companies, including
▽ Toyota Motor Corporation,
▽ Sony Group,
▽ NTT,
▽ NEC,
▽ Softbank, and
▽ semiconductor major Kioxia, will invest.
The new company will develop cutting-edge semiconductor technology that is indispensable for fields that instantly process large amounts of data, such as autonomous driving, AI (artificial intelligence), and smart cities, aiming for mass production in 2027. .
The government has also decided to subsidize 70 billion yen for the maintenance cost of research and development bases, and it is expected that Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura will announce it soon.
Japan has fallen behind the United States and Taiwan in the field of advanced semiconductors, but the new company aims to bring together the technologies of each company and build an integrated system from development to production.