2022

On 10 August 2022, Rapidus was established by eight Japanese companies with total investment of 7.3 billion yen^[13] for domestic production of advanced semiconductors; with further investments totaling $36 billion expected over a decade.^[14][15] Rapidus is led by Tetsuro Higashi (who formerly led Tokyo Electron)^[16] and Atsuyoshi Koike (who formerly led Western Digital's Japanese subsidiary).^[17] In the same year, METI and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) publicly solicited applications for advanced semiconductor development consignment projects related to strengthening the foundation of post-5G communication systems, which resulted in 70 billion yen of government subsidies for Rapidus.^[18][19]

On 6 December 2022, IMEC announced it had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Rapidus, where both companies will set up a long-term and sustainable collaboration on advanced semiconductor technologies, while Rapidus would plan to mass-produce chips in 2-nanometer technology in Japan in the latter half of 2020s.^{[20][21][22][23]}

On 13 December 2022, IBM and Rapidus announced the development of 2 nanometer node technology, with production of the nanosheet gate-all-around FET (GAA FET) devices previously announced by IBM in 2021^[12][24] to be done by Rapidus at its fab in Japan.^{[25][26][27][28]} The 2 nm semiconductor chips which Rapidus is aiming to produce are expected to have up to 45% better performance and use 75% less energy compared to 7 nm chips on the market in 2022.^[29]

2023

In January 2023, representatives of Rapidus and IBM participated in a meeting between Japanese Trade Minister Hagiuda's successor, Yasutoshi Nishimura, and Secretary Raimondo.^[30]

In February 2023, Rapidus announced the selection of a site close to the New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Hokkaido for the location of its planned factory.^[31][32] Rapidus also increased its partnership with imec by joining the latter's "Core Partner Program" in April 2023,^[33][34] and in the same month received additional funding of 260 billion yen from the Japanese government.^[35] An estimated $37 billion in total funding is needed before Rapidus can begin production.^[36]

In July 2023, Rapidus and Tokyo Electron were discussed as companies that would "play a major role" in a new memorandum of understanding between Japan and India that is expected to involve $35.9 billion of investment by Japan in India by 2027^[37] and was officially signed in New Delhi by ministers Yasutoshi Nishimura and Ashwini Vaishnaw for their countries respectively.^[38][39] This agreement closely followed a similar deal between the United States and India which had been reached by President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June.^[40][41]

Groundbreaking to begin construction on Rapidus' factory in Chitose was held in September 2023.^[42] The company has reportedly been supported by around US$2.5 billion in government subsidies from the Kishida administration thus far.^[43] Dutch equipment manufacturer ASML Holding announced they would also open an office in Chitose with 40-50 technical staff to assist Rapidus.^[44] While full operation is not expected until 2027, a pilot line is expected to start in 2025.^[45]

2024

Construction work began on September 1, 2023, after a groundbreaking ceremony held in Chitose City, Hokkaido, and the ground excavation work was completed approximately 21 days later than scheduled. On January 22, 2024, Rapidus opened a Chitose office to handle communications and contracts with construction companies and equipment delivery companies related to factory construction. The address is ``NTT Chitose Building, 2-16 Chiyodacho, Chitose City, Hokkaido.''^[46]

According to a February 27, 2024 Bloomberg article, Rapidus announced that it has been contracted to produce next-generation AI chips from Canadian startup Tenstorrent. Tenstorrent is the first customer announced by Rapidus.^[47][48] The architecture that Tenstorrent outsourced to Rapidus for production and development is based on RISC-V, and its benefits are close to what the university stakeholders, who are the main members of Japan's Leading-edged Semiconductor Technology Center (LSTC), desire. (because of its open architecture). Furthermore, the biggest challenge in the relevant architecture is said to be the optimization of the calculation pipeline, and maximizing microfabrication technology is also an important issue in order to realize a multi-stage pipeline.

On April 2, the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry of Japan announced that it would provide up to JP ￥590 billion in additional support to Rapidus. Including the JP ￥330 billion in subsidies that have already been decided, the total amount of support will reach nearly JP ￥1 trillion.^[49]

On April 11, the company announced the establishment of a new company, Rapidus Design Solutions, in Silicon Valley, United States. Henri Richard was appointed president. In addition to selling to major American IT companies, Rapidus Design Solutions aim to secure software and design engineers to create semiconductors that meet customer requests^[50].