Rapidus Likely to Miss Its March 2028 Deadline for 2nm Chip Mass Production, Sources Say

According to those people, the company has not yet produced working static random-access memory (SRAM) cells. That step needed to be done by this summer for the 2nm schedule to hold, which leaves Rapidus at least several months behind, they said. SRAM is a basic building block of processors: advanced logic chips contain hundreds of millions of these cells, and they must be made with extreme precision. The people also said Rapidus is still working to control dust and particles in its cleanroom, according to a Taiwanese account of the report by United Daily News.

A delay would hit Japan's main attempt to build a leading-edge foundry from scratch and cut its reliance on Taiwan for the most advanced chips, the kind used in AI accelerators and high-end processors. The government has committed more than 2 trillion yen, about $13 billion, to the project, according to United Daily News, and a long delay could weaken political support for it.

Rapidus said it is still fully committed to starting mass production in the second half of fiscal 2027, the period from October 2027 to March 2028. It declined to discuss technical details, citing confidentiality.

The company's business plan calls for 2nm production in the second half of fiscal 2027, followed by mass production of advanced packaging in fiscal 2028. Rapidus said in July 2025 that its pilot line in Hokkaido had produced working transistors, its first step towards making advanced chips. Since then, most of its public progress has been releasing process design kits to customers who are designing chips for its process, United Daily News said.

There have been earlier signs of strain. In March, Digitimes reported that Rapidus had started scaling back its research and development at NY Creates in New York earlier than expected, because of tight funding and schedule pressure.

The next public test is whether Rapidus or the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which oversees its subsidies, changes the second-half fiscal 2027 target. For now, the company says that target stands.