Japan's High-Stakes Gamble To Turn Island of Flowers Into Global Chip Hub

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The island of Hokkaido has long been an agricultural powerhouse -- now Japan is investing billions to turn it into a global hub for advanced semiconductors. More than half of Japan's dairy produce comes from Hokkaido, the northernmost of its main islands. In winter, it's a wonderland of ski resorts and ice-sculpture festivals; in summer, fields bloom with bands of lavender, poppies and sunflowers. These days, cranes are popping up across the island -- building factories, research centers and universities focused on technology. It's part of Japan's boldest industrial push in a generation: an attempt to reboot the country's chip-making capabilities and reshape its economic future.

Locals say that beyond the cattle and tourism, Hokkaido has long lacked other industries. There's even a saying that those who go there do so only to leave. But if the government succeeds in turning Hokkaido into Japan's answer to Silicon Valley -- or "Hokkaido Valley", as some have begun to call it -- the country could become a new contender in the $600 billion race to supply the world's computer chips. At the heart of the plan is Rapidus, a little-known company backed by the government and some of Japan's biggest corporations including Toyota, Softbank and Sony.

Born out of a partnership with IBM, it has raised billions of dollars to build Japan's first cutting-edge chip foundry in decades. The government has invested $12 billion in the company, so that it can build a massive semiconductor factory or "fab" in the small city of Chitose. In selecting the Hokkaido location, Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike points to Chitose's water, electricity infrastructure and its natural beauty. Mr Koike oversaw the fab design, which will be completely covered in grass to harmonize with Hokkaido's landscape, he told the BBC. Local authorities have also flagged the region as being at lower risk of earthquakes compared to other potential sites in Japan.

Odd choice

[stabiesoft]

I think. Japan has plenty of industrial areas with all the necessary things for cutting edge fabs. Machine shops, chemicals etc. Why put it somewhere everything must be built and people must be relocated. Seems a setup for failure. TSMC dropped its new fab in AZ, where there was already fabs and the infrastructure. They did not put it in the Iowa cornfields.

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[thesjaakspoiler]

It's cold, has an abundance of seawater for cooling and power plants all over the place.
And above all, an abundance of space.

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[AmiMoJo]

Decent wind energy resources too. It is partly a political decision though, to help boost a part of Japan that needs some economic help.

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[BranMan]

Exactly. Ever wonder why the US put a massive nation laboratory in ... Idaho??

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[Aighearach]

Why would people have to be relocated? Your whole argument hangs by this absurd claim.

If somebody is renting an apartment and their landlord sells the land to build a factory that is going to result in a net increase in local apartments. Do you think the Japanese people are incapable of building apartments, or conducting land use planning?!

They're probably the best in the world at land use planning. Did you even know that Hokkaido has cities?

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[stabiesoft]

Because the people that live there will with almost certainty not be qualified to be much more than receptionists. Working in a fab is a very specialized skill. So they will need to move to the area. And will the best want to? As I said seems dumb. As just one example of a good place, how about Kikuyo where TSMC already has a 7nm fab. The chemicals must be available, Applied and ASML probably have local offices there, clean room expertise must be there as well.

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[Aighearach]

You failed to make an argument that people will have to be relocated, or that Japan's existing public planning is weak in this area.

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[stabiesoft]

Look maybe you missed the obvious. I'm not talking about people who live there. I'm talking about the people who will have to move there, if they chose. Instead they could build it, I don't know, near one of the many fabs in existence there. I get it, you think its a great idea to plop this thing in nowheresville. I don't.

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[Anonymous Coward]

RTA? "Local authorities have also flagged the region as being at lower risk of earthquakes compared to other potential sites in Japan."

Seismic Activity

[Koreantoast]

The article made the point that the location was picked in part because it is less prone to earthquakes than other sites for consideration - this is important given the sensitivities of manufacturing equipment to earthquakes. It's not a showstopper, TSMC is built in an earthquake prone area, but there are significant costs in terms of earthquake protections in the buildings, recalibrating tools each time you have a significant earthquake, etc. Abundant water and solid electric infrastructure were also impor

Island of Flowers?

[ShakaUVM]

Hokkaido is not an "Island of Flowers". While the Furano Biei lavender fields are pretty famous, it is a small part of the island. Most of it is the same sort of forest and mountain terrain you'd see in Yosemite.

Not a gamble.

[Gravis Zero]

A key milestone for Rapidus came with the delivery of an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) system from the Dutch company ASML.

The high-tech machinery helped bring about Rapidus' biggest accomplishment yet earlier this year – the successful production of prototype two nanometre (2nm) transistors.
[...]
It's a feat only rival chip makers TSMC and Samsung have accomplished. Intel is not pursuing 2nm, it is leapfrogging from 7nm straight to 1.8nm.

"We succeeded in manufacturing the 2nm prototype for the first time in Japan, and at an unprecedented speed in Japan and globally," Mr Koike said.

It's not really a gamble if they have demonstrated the basic technology works. It seems more like a logical an investment. Will they be highly successful or not has yet to be seen but this isn't a company without merit.