TOKYO: Japan’s industry ministry said on Saturday it has approved an ​additional 631.5 billion yen ($3.96 billion) to accelerate research and development at chipmaker Rapidus.

The support is part of the government’s efforts to boost domestic ‌production of ‌advanced semiconductors ​and ‌strengthen chip ⁠supply ​chains.

With the ⁠latest funding, Rapidus’ total research and development assistance amounts to 2.354 trillion yen.

The ministry also said that NEDO, its ⁠subordinate organisation, the New ‌Energy and ‌Industrial Technology Development Organization, ​has ‌decided to support semiconductor design-related ‌projects by Fujitsu and IBM Japan.

Rapidus is working on the development of next-generation logic ‌semiconductors at the 2-nanometre scale and plans to ⁠start mass ⁠production in the fiscal year 2027.

In February, the company secured a combined investment of about 160 billion yen from private companies, with a planned 250 billion yen from the government.

Reuters