Rapidus Corporation, a Japanese company dedicated to the research, development, design, manufacture and sales of advanced logic semiconductors, today announced it has formed a U.S. subsidiary, Rapidus Design Solutions (RDS); opened an office for the Americas in Santa Clara, California; and named long-time semiconductor executive Henri Richard as general manager and president of the U.S. organization. In this role, Richard leads overall business development efforts for Rapidus in the U.S.
RDS will serve fabless semiconductor companies, technology partners and others in the Americas interested in accelerating time to market for the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Richard—who effectively came out of retirement to work for Rapidus— brings decades of leadership experience in sales, marketing and customer support to his new role. He’s held executive positions at a wide range of industry-leading companies including AMD, Freescale, IBM, NetApp and SanDisk, among others. Richard has strong relationships in the industry and has already assembled the core leadership team for Rapidus Americas sales and marketing.
“When Rapidus knocked on my door, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to work with an extremely talented and passionate team that is changing the way semiconductors are designed and produced, providing an alternative to current manufacturers and shaking up traditional manufacturing approaches,” said Richard. “With AI transforming every industry, the demand for advanced semiconductors is on the rise. I am extremely excited to be part of this company.”
Global Momentum
These U.S. milestones build on the momentum Rapidus has seen worldwide since its founding two years ago. Last week, the company announced the approval of two projects by the Japanese government. The first is an extension of its 2nm-foundry front-end project for wafer development and the second a new back-end focus area on packaging, specifically on the development of chiplet package design and manufacturing technology for 2nm semiconductors. With its comprehensive support of both the front-end and back-end processes, as well as providing design solutions, Rapidus will enable its fabless semiconductor customers to achieve the world’s fastest time-to-market for the production of advanced devices.
Rapidus was formed in 2022 with investment by the Japanese government as well as prominent Japanese firms including, Sony and Toyota, and is aligned in a strategic partnership with IBM for joint development of 2nm node technology. Its manufacturing facility, called the Innovative Integration for Manufacturing (IIM), is currently under construction in Hokkaido, Japan, with production expected to begin in the coming years.
“We’re at an important inflection point for semiconductor manufacturing as there must be collaboration among multiple countries, governments and foundries. The development of advanced node technology is essential to lessen power consumption, and in turn help to address climate change challenges to realize a better world,” said Dr. Atsuyoshi Koike, president and CEO, Rapidus Corporation. “With the opening of our office in the Silicon Valley, combined with Henri’s extensive and impressive semiconductor experience, we’re ensuring that our customers have the best support –from Japan and the U.S. – to address their design and manufacturing needs.”
The Santa Clara office is an extension of Rapidus’ existing presence in the U.S. More than 100 Rapidus scientists and engineers are currently working alongside IBM researchers at the Albany NanoTech Complex owned and operated by NY CREATES in Albany, New York – one of the world’s most advanced semiconductor research facilities. Together, the organizations are developing processes to speed up the research, development, design and manufacture of semiconductors for next-generation industries such as AI, 5G communications, quantum computing, self-driving vehicles and smart cities, among others.
“I am proud to see what the collaboration between IBM and Rapidus has accomplished since our relationship began in 2022,” said Dr. Mukesh Khare, general manager, IBM Semiconductors and vice president, Hybrid Cloud Research, IBM. “Working together with Rapidus engineers at the Albany NanoTech Complex, we are making tremendous strides for our 2nm joint development project.”