The partnership comes as United States-China relations remain tense especially over chips, and Washington recently restricted Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductor technology.
TOKYO: IBM Corp says it is partnering with Rapidus, a newly formed chipmaker backed by the Japanese government, to help it manufacture the most advanced chips available.
The move comes as United States-China relations remain tense especially over chips, and Washington recently restricted Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductor technology.
Japan, which has long lost its lead on chip manufacturing, is now rushing to catch up and ensure its carmakers and information technology companies do not run short of the key component.
Last month Japan said it would invest an initial 70 billion yen (US$500mil or RM2.2bil) in Rapidus, a venture led by tech firms including Sony Group Corp and NEC Corp.
While that is small in the world of chip manufacturing ,where plants can cost tens of billions of dollars to build, industry sources have said more investments are on the way.
International Business Machines Corp’s director of research, Dario Gil, said the two companies will work together to manufacture IBM’s so-called 2-nanometer-node chips.
A “nanometer,” or one-billionth of a meter, in the chip industry now refers to a specific technology rather than the measurement. In general, the smaller the number that precedes the word “nanometer,” the more advanced the chip.
“Japan has enormous strengths in the semiconductor industry and from the perspective of materials and equipment are global leaders,” he said. — Reuters
