Japan and the US have signed a bilateral chip technology partnership. This could end up as a joint venture between Japanese and US firms, or a wholly Japanese-owned setup. Semiconductors could be used for everything from quantum computers to smartphones.
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Japanese and U.S. businesses could jointly establish a new company, or Japanese corporations could set up a new manufacturing hub. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will partially subsidize the cost of research and development as well as capital expenditures.
Joint research will start this summer at the earliest, and a research and mass production center will be formed between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2027.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, is building a chip fab in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, but the plant will only produce less-advanced semiconductors scaled from 10nm to the 20nm range.
Smaller semiconductors lead to miniaturization and improved performance of devices. The 2-nm chips will be used in products such as quantum computers, data centers and cutting-edge smartphones. Those chips also reduce power consumption, shrinking carbon footprints.
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IBM, which is strong in 2-nm R&D, developed a prototype last year. Fellow U.S. company Intel also is proceeding with R&D on the 2-nm process.
In Japan, a research lab in Tsukuba city run by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology is hosting a collaboration to develop manufacturing technology for advanced semiconductor lines, including those for 2-nm processes. Chipmaking equipment makers like Tokyo Electron and Canon are taking part in the collective, along with IBM, Intel and TSMC.