Collaborating with 17 companies including Lapidus and Toshiba to support customer semiconductor design

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Doyeon Lee = The Nippon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 5th that Japanese semiconductor company Lapidus has joined hands with 17 companies, including Toshiba, to support customers' cutting-edge semiconductor design.

According to reports, Lapidus has established a strategy to strengthen its ability to supply cutting-edge semiconductors by collaborating with 17 semiconductor design-related companies, including Toshiba and Dainippon Printing, to help potential customers design and then handle production.

Lapidus, a foundry company, produces semiconductors based on customer design data. The more advanced semiconductors are, the more difficult they are to design, making it often difficult for customers to design them themselves.

Currently, Japanese companies, which are potential customers of Lapidus, are assessed to lack advanced semiconductor design manpower. Accordingly, the plan is to support the design work of potential customers and actually secure customers in a form led by Lapidus.

17 partners are responsible for semiconductor design for Lapidus’ customers. In addition to Japanese companies, American semiconductor design software companies Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems, India's Infosys, and Malaysian companies were also included.

Lapidus, which was born in 2022 with full support from the Japanese government, is adopting a business model of consignment production of external semiconductors.

The goal is to produce 2-nano (nm, 1 billionth of a meter) products, a cutting-edge semiconductor, in the second half of 2027, and for this purpose, Japan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has decided to provide support worth 3 trillion yen (25.5 trillion won) so far.