According to Nikkei, Intel Corporation, with the participation of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Research and Technology (AIST), is going to build a research center in Japan that will specialize in the implementation of ultra-hard ultraviolet lithography (EUV). The center’s clients will be Japanese manufacturers of equipment and materials for chip production.
Image Source: Intel
According to Japanese sources, the construction of the center will take from three to five years; its feature will be the presence of a laboratory with equipment that allows the production of chips using EUV lithography. The cost of one corresponding system can be measured in hundreds of millions of US dollars, so not every Japanese company can afford to have its own equipment of this class for experiments. Intel’s research center will help Japanese suppliers adapt to customers’ transition to EUV equipment. Japan remains strong in the production of equipment for the semiconductor industry, as well as the supply of materials necessary for the production of chips. For the first time, local manufacturers will have the opportunity to share EUV lithography equipment to adapt their products and technologies to industry requirements.
It is assumed that those wishing to use the services of the research center will have to pay a certain amount for its services. Construction and equipment of the center will require costs of several hundred million dollars, and in addition to Intel, it will also be financed by the Japanese government. The Japanese research institute AIST will manage the work of the center, and Intel will supply it with the necessary technological knowledge. Currently, Japanese companies are forced to obtain data from outside the country; it takes a lot of time to coordinate such a cross-border exchange of know-how, so the emergence of a local center will speed up the implementation of relevant technologies in Japan.
The Japanese corporation Rapidus intends to install EUV equipment on its own pilot production line by December of this year, which will begin producing prototypes of 2nm products next year, and mass production of such chips should be mastered by 2027. Nothing has been announced about the prospects for Rapidus’ cooperation with the research center being built by Intel, while the first of the companies relies on technological support from the American IBM. By establishing a research center in Japan, Intel intends to deepen cooperation with local suppliers of equipment and materials.