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ASIA ELECTRONICS INDUSTRYYOUR WINDOW TO SMART MANUFACTURING

Rapidus Achieves New Milestone With 2nm Prototype

Advanced logic chipmaker Rapidus Corporation has announced the start of prototyping for its 2nm gate-all-around (GAA) transistor structure at Rapidus’ Innovative Integration for Manufacturing (IIM-1) foundry. In addition, the prototype wafers also started to obtain their electrical characteristics.

Beyond Traditional Foundry Model

Rapidus’ new IIM-1 foundry represents a significant advancement over the traditional foundry model. The company is re-imagining how semiconductor factories should think, learn, adapt and optimize processes in real time through cutting-edge methods and technology, including:

Exterior of Rapidus’ IIM-1

Fully single-wafer front-end processing: In a single-wafer process, adjustments can be made to a single wafer, inspected and if successful, applied to all subsequent wafers. Single wafer captures more data. Therefore, enabling AI models to be trained to improve wafer production and increase yields. Rapidus is one of the first companies that will commercialize fully single-wafer processing, which is central to its Rapid and Unified Manufacturing Service (RUMs).

Prototypes of 2nm Gate All Around Transistors on Silicon Wafer

Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography: EUV lithography is one of the key technologies for realizing 2nm semiconductors. An advanced lithography process is critical for forming the 2nm generation GAA structure. Rapidus is the first company to install advanced EUV machinery in Japan. Additionally on April 1, 2025, the company successfully completed EUV exposure, approximately three months after the equipment was delivered in December 2024.

At the press conference on July 18th, 2025. From left to right: Tetsuro Higashi, Chairman of Rapidus Corporation, Atsuyoshi Koike, President and CEO, Rapidus Corporation, Naomichi Suzuki, Governor of Hokkaido and Ryuichi Yokota, Mayor of Chitose City.

Significant Milestone

In less than three years, Rapidus has achieved its IIM-1 target milestones – from initial groundbreaking in September 2023, clean room completion in 2024 and, in June 2025, the connection of more than 200 of the world’s most advanced pieces of semiconductor equipment. These achievements are complemented by the announcement of prototyping of 2nm GAA transistors and attaining electrical characteristics.

Rapidus is developing a Process Development Kit compatible with IIM-1’s 2nm process and will release it to advance customers by Q1 2026, while preparing an environment in which customers can start their own prototypes. Rapidus will begin mass-production in 2027.

21 July 2025