On June 5, according to Nikkei News today, the draft of the basic policy for economic and fiscal operations and reforms that the Japanese government will finalize in late June has now been made public. In order to promote the mass production of next-generation semiconductors, the local government has included a policy to improve relevant laws. The draft mentioned that in order to achieve mass production of next-generation semiconductors, "Necessary and Legal" measures will be studied.
The report also stated that some analysts believe that the draft takes into account Rapidus's efforts to mass produce 2-nanometer semiconductors by 2027. Rapidus believes that mass production requires 5 trillion yen (IT Home Note: Currently about 233.5 billion yuan), but currently only nearly 1 trillion yen (currently about 46.7 billion yuan) in subsidies for research and development, as well as small contributions from the private sector, are guaranteed.
There are opinions within the Japanese government that if there is a legal basis to guarantee financial support for mass production, it will be easier to attract medium- and long-term investment, including private funds. There are also views that in order to avoid loosening fiscal discipline, legislation should be promoted under the purpose of ensuring stable financial resources.
In addition, the draft also proposes to strive to formulate and implement a plan to operate autonomous driving throughout the year in all prefectures by 2025 in order to solve the problem of insufficient bus and truck drivers.
The draft also proposes a "skill reshaping" policy to improve the capabilities of about 5,000 people by 2029, and strives to change the monopoly of smartphone operating systems and fundamentally strengthen the "Fair Bidding Committee".
According to previous reports by IT Home, Henri Richard, head of Rapidus's US subsidiary Rapidus Design Solutions, said that Rapidus is currently "very satisfied" with the 0.33NA (Low NA) EUV lithography solution used in its 2nm node. In addition to the 2nm process planned for trial production in 2025 and mass production in 2027, Rapidus has already planned the next stage of 1.4nm.
