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Japan storms back into the chip wars

The country used to be a semiconductor powerhouse. Can it be one again?

In the 1980s, Japanese firms accounted for more than half of the global market, and an even bigger share of the cutting-edge chips of the time.

PHOTO: AFP

The Economist

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Mr Atsuyoshi Koike likes to go fast. The 73-year-old semiconductor engineer is a motorcycle aficionado. He brings the same tempo to his latest company, Rapidus.

Founded in 2022

, the firm opened its massive semiconductor factory, or “fab”, in 2024 in Chitose, a small city on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. In December Rapidus became the first Japanese entity to acquire an extreme ultraviolet lithography system from ASML, the Dutch company that makes the unique devices; Rapidus had the complex up and running within months.

Japan storms back into the chip wars

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