Rapidus bets on ultra-fast cycle time at 2nm

At Hot Chips 2025, Rapidus touted a dramatic reduction in turnaround time of 2nm production: from the typical 120 days to just 50 days using its proprietary all-single-wafer process (via Techpowerup). For urgent ‘hot lot’ production runs, the budding Japanese foundry promises an unprecedented 15-day cycle time. The company is betting that its speed advantage will become a critical differentiator in contract semiconductor production.

Rapidus has taped out its first 2nm GAA test chip and plans to begin mass production in 2027. In terms of density, the Japanese are reportedly on par with TSMC’s 2nm offering and ahead of Intel’s 18A. The latter firm, however, focuses on performance rather than density. Of course, by 2027, both TSMC and Intel will have already introduced a new node – Rapidus hopes customers will trade bleeding-edge performance or density for agility.