In the latest Business Daily podcast episode, „Can an island of flowers become a global chip hub?“, the BBC explores Japan’s ambitious, multibillion-dollar gamble to transform Hokkaido from an agricultural powerhouse into a premier global semiconductor hub. Central to this transformation is Rapidus, a state-backed startup aiming to mass-produce cutting-edge 2-nanometer chips by 2027 to revive Japan’s tech power and secure its national supply chains. Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike highlights the company’s „all-single-wafer“ processing and AI-driven design tools (Raads) as key differentiators that could reduce design cycles by up to 50%. With over $12 billion in initial government investment and a growing local „Hokkaido Valley“ ecosystem attracting global giants like ASML and Tokyo Electron, the project seeks to reclaim the dominant market position Japan held four decades ago. While the technical hurdles are steep, the initiative is framed as a strategic necessity for both national security and the burgeoning global artificial intelligence race.
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