Rapidus to price 2nm chips up to 40% below TSMC

Published 52 minutes ago 35 sources

Japanese semiconductor foundry Rapidus disclosed its pricing strategy for 2-nanometer chip manufacturing on Wednesday, setting wafer costs at ¥3 million to ¥3.5 million (approximately $18,460 to $21,540) — a direct challenge to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has priced its own 2nm wafers at roughly $30,000 each. seekingalpha.com gurufocus.com finance.biggo.com

The move positions Rapidus as a lower-cost alternative at the most advanced logic node, undercutting TSMC by as much as 40 percent per wafer. The company is currently in discussions with more than 60 potential customers, according to reports citing CEO Atsuyoshi Koike. finance.biggo.com phemex.com

Rapidus to price 2nm chips up to 40% below TSMC

A Government-Backed Contender

Rapidus, founded in 2022 with backing from Toyota, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, and other major Japanese corporations, has raised a total of ¥424.95 billion in combined government and private funding as of June 2026. The company’s IIM-1 fab in Chitose, Hokkaido, began pilot-line operations in April 2025 and produced working 2nm gate-all-around prototypes with IBM technology by July of that year. envisioning.com rapidus.inc rapidus.inc reuters.com

Mass production is targeted for the latter half of fiscal 2027. In April 2025, Reuters reported that Rapidus was negotiating with Apple, Google, and other major technology firms as prospective clients. reuters.com

Supply-Chain Diversification Play

The pricing announcement arrives as the global semiconductor industry grapples with supply-chain concentration risk. TSMC currently dominates advanced logic manufacturing, and geopolitical tensions around Taiwan have driven governments and chipmakers to seek alternatives. Rapidus is positioning its foundry for AI accelerators, autonomous vehicles, and next-generation 6G communications applications. semiwiki.com envisioning.com

The company’s aggressive pricing reflects the trade-off it faces: its planned capacity of 25,000 wafer starts per month is a fraction of TSMC’s scale, and filling that capacity is essential to its cost model. Whether Rapidus can deliver competitive yields and on-time production remains the central question as it races toward its 2027 deadline. tomshardware.com reddit.com