Former Intel CEO Gelsinger has some advice for Japan's Rapidus
Rapidus needs to do something special to distinguish itself in the highly competitive market for advanced semiconductors, former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.
'We applaud the efforts of Japan to bring Rapidus to the market,' Gelsinger said during a news conference in Tokyo this week when asked about the potential of Rapidus becoming a leading chipmaker.
'However, we'd also say that Rapidus needs some fundamental differentiating technologies, because if they're trying to catch up with a well-executing TSMC without some leap-ahead capabilities, we think that's a very hard road.'
Gelsinger is now a general partner at Playground Global, a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California, that focuses on investing in deep-tech startups.
Rapidus, a foundry established in 2022, started pilot production of next-generation 2-nanometer chips in Chitose, Hokkaido, in April. Rapidus plans to mass produce those semiconductors starting in 2027.
Chips are more advanced — but also more technologically challenging — as the measure of the transistor gate size falls. Japan is stuck at the 40 nm level, but Rapidus has been teaming up with IBM to make 2 nm chips.
Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike has indicated that the company does not intend to go toe-to-toe with TSMC, since Rapidus will not be aiming for super-large-scale production, which is TSMC's business model.
Some clients want advanced chips specifically customized for their needs rather than mass-produced general-purpose chips, so Rapidus will focus on closely working with them to achieve the desired output.
Gelsinger said Playground is keen to help Japanese chip-related companies achieve a competitive edge, stressing the importance of deepening U.S.-Japan tech ties.
'We see U.S.-Japan as being a powerful partnership for the future of technology and the future of semiconductors,' said Gelsinger, who headed Intel until last December.
'Part of the reason we're here is meeting with the respective Japanese companies to help build that leap-ahead capability,' Gelsinger said.
Representatives from some of the startups backed by Playground also joined the news conference in Tokyo.
Given that Japanese companies have significant market shares in materials, packaging and equipment for the chip industry, working with Japanese companies provides opportunities for Playground-invested startups, Gelsinger added.
San Jose, California's Ayar Labs, one of the investees, has cutting-edge silicon photonics technology that can embed optical communication capabilities within a chip package.
Chip-level optical interconnect is more energy efficient and allows for faster data transmission compared to traditional copper networking. With the use of artificial intelligence increasing rapidly, energy consumption by AI data centers is expected to grow rapidly, so breakthroughs in energy-saving chip technology are seen as key.
Mark Wade, CEO of Ayar Labs, indicated that working with Rapidus is a possible option in the future.
The company already works with large foundries, such as TSMC and GlobalFoundries, and has received investments from Nvidia and AMD. Last December, NTT Docomo Venture announced an investment in Ayar Labs.
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