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Rapidus is pursuing a place in advanced chip manufacturing, but it is at an earlier reported production stage than TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. Rapidus says its 2nm pilot line in Chitose, Hokkaido, has operated since April 2025 and targets mass production in 2027. By contrast, the three established manufacturers report that their respective next-generation processes reached production milestones in 2025. Those dates describe company-reported milestones—not proof that the processes have equal scale, maturity, yield, or performance.
Where Rapidus stands against the three manufacturers
The clearest comparison is timing. Rapidus is developing a new Japanese advanced-logic manufacturing business, while TSMC, Samsung, and Intel report that their respective processes have entered production. The milestones below come from the companies’ own statements and use their different process labels.
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| Manufacturer | Process and reported status | What the milestone means |
|---|---|---|
| Rapidus | 2nm program; pilot line reported operating in Chitose since April 2025; mass production targeted for 2027. | A stated target, not a report that mass production has begun. |
| TSMC | N2; TSMC says volume production began in Q4 2025. | A company-reported volume-production milestone. |
| Samsung | SF2; Samsung lists mass production as started in 2025. | A company-reported mass-production milestone. |
| Intel | 18A; Intel says the process entered production in 2025. | A company-reported production milestone. |
These labels and milestone descriptions are not interchangeable measures. “2nm,” “N2,” “SF2,” and “18A” are company-specific names, not a shared scale that by itself proves equivalent transistor dimensions or manufacturing capability.
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Does Rapidus already make 2nm chips?
Rapidus reports that its pilot line has been operating since April 2025, but its stated goal for 2nm mass production is 2027. A pilot line is a development and process-demonstration stage; it should not be described as proof that a manufacturer is already producing at commercial scale. The available company milestones establish Rapidus’s target, not that it has met it.
What is different about Rapidus’s approach?
A new Japanese advanced-logic manufacturer
Rapidus was founded to establish design and manufacturing bases for next-generation chips in Japan. The Government of Japan’s 2024 background account describes its partnership with IBM on 2nm technology. That history helps explain the program’s origins, but it is not a current independent evaluation of process readiness.
Single-wafer processing and turnaround
Rapidus presents single-wafer processing and shorter turnaround as features of its intended manufacturing approach. These are strategic claims about how it aims to operate, not published comparative measurements showing that its production is faster or more effective than a competitor’s.
Rank #2
Funding and ecosystem building
On February 27, 2026, Rapidus announced a 267.6 billion yen funding round involving the Japanese government and private-sector companies. That figure applies to the announced round only; it does not establish the total cost of the project or whether funding for all future capacity is secured.
On October 5, 2026, Rapidus announced Rapidus CORE and an initial Design Solution Associates initiative. This marks an announced effort to develop an ecosystem around its manufacturing business. The announcement alone does not show that its customer design flows, intellectual-property support, or partner network are already as broad as those of longer-established manufacturers.
Can their process performance be ranked?
Not on the available comparable evidence. The reported production dates do not establish which process has the highest yield, greatest wafer capacity, lowest wafer cost, best benchmark performance, or strongest customer access. Comparable, independently audited figures for those measures are not established across all four manufacturers.
For the same reason, Rapidus’s 2nm label cannot be treated as directly equivalent to TSMC N2, Samsung SF2, or Intel 18A. A meaningful like-for-like assessment would require shared definitions and comparable data, not just the names each company gives its process. The evidence supports a comparison of reported production stages and stated positioning—not a technical winner.
Rank #4
What the comparison means for Japan’s chip ambitions
Rapidus is an attempt to build a domestic advanced-logic manufacturing base with government and private-sector backing, alongside an announced effort to develop design partners. Its progress should be judged against concrete milestones: whether it meets its 2027 mass-production target, how production scales, and what independently comparable data eventually show about yield, cost, performance, and customer adoption.
For now, the distinction is straightforward: Rapidus has a reported operating pilot line and a future mass-production target; TSMC, Samsung, and Intel report production milestones for their processes in 2025. That makes Rapidus a significant emerging effort, but not yet a manufacturing peer whose commercial output or process performance can be ranked on the same evidence.
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