rapidus
Rapidus is a Japanese company developing advanced-logic foundry manufacturing at its IIM hub in Chitose, Hokkaido, targeting 2nm-class gate-all-around technology, with a pilot line that began operating in April 2025 after an ASML NXE:3800E EUV system was installed in December 2024 — a development-stage foundry working toward a stated 2027 mass-production target, not a company already running qualified high-volume customer production. How Rapidus has moved from groundbreaking toward that 2027 target looks like this:
A few things are worth knowing about why a pilot line and a qualified foundry are different readiness stages:
An installed EUV scanner and an operating pilot line document progress toward a process, but neither one by itself establishes mature yield, commercial wafer volume, or customer-design qualification. Rapidus's own timeline — groundbreaking in September 2023, EUV installation in December 2024, pilot-line operation starting April 2025 — is a real, dated sequence of milestones, but each milestone answers a narrower question than "Rapidus can manufacture 2nm-class chips at scale."
A foundry platform needs a process design kit, IP libraries, verification support, packaging, and test access — not just a working transistor process — before a customer can actually tape out a design. Rapidus's April 2026 announcement of an analysis center and Rapidus Chiplet Solutions addresses parts of that ecosystem, but opening those facilities is distinct from qualifying and shipping a particular customer's finished product at volume.
2027 is Rapidus's own stated target for mass production, not a milestone the company has already reached. Pilot operation, prototype performance, customer tape-outs, risk production, and sustained volume shipments are each separate, independently reportable facts — a new foundry's commercial success depends on turning device results into predictable timing, power, reliability, defect levels, and delivery schedules repeatedly, which is a different and harder claim than installing a scanner or opening a pilot line.
Sources: [Rapidus IIM official overview](https://www.rapidus.inc/en/iim/); [Rapidus April 2026 development facilities announcement](https://www.rapidus.inc/en/news_topics/information/rapidus-opens-analysis-center-and-rapidus-chiplet-solutions/).
Read Rapidus as a development-stage advanced-logic foundry targeting 2nm-class gate-all-around production by 2027 — evaluate its progress by the specific dated milestone being cited (groundbreaking, tool installation, pilot operation, or a future target), not by a single "Rapidus is building 2nm chips" claim.