Japanese chip venture Rapidus needs $54 billion to begin production, says chairman

Japan’s state-backed chip venture Rapidus will need about 7 trillion yen ($54 billion) of mostly taxpayer money to begin mass producing advanced logic chips in around 2027, its chairman, Tetsuro Higashi, told Reuters on Thursday.

That plan may be Japan’s last best chance to revive its aging semiconductor industry as Japan and the United States set aside old industrial rivalries to take on China amid growing geopolitical tension.