"Semiconductor Super Company ASML Establishes Technology Hub in Hokkaido, Japan"

Dutch semiconductor equipment company ASML is establishing a technology hub in Hokkaido, where Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus is building a factory.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 26th, the ASML Hokkaido technology support hub, scheduled to open in the second half of next year, will employ about 50 staff members. ASML is the only company in the world that produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment necessary for advanced semiconductor mass production.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

ASML employees working in Hokkaido will install EUV lithography equipment inside the Rapidus factory and collaborate on factory establishment, maintenance, and inspection tasks. Rapidus was established last November by eight leading Japanese companies?Toyota, Kioxia, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, NEC, Denso, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank?to promote the domestic production of advanced semiconductors. The company is receiving large-scale funding from the Japanese government to begin trial production of 2-nanometer (nm; one billionth of a meter) process semiconductors in 2025 and start mass production in 2027.

ASML has also expanded its technology support hub in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, where Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer), is building a semiconductor factory. ASML plans to increase its total workforce in Japan from about 400 currently to approximately 560 by around 2028. A representative of ASML Japan stated, "Due to geopolitical circumstances, the Japanese semiconductor industry will continue to grow."

Nikkei analyzed, "Amid rising geopolitical risks in East Asia due to the US-China confrontation, overseas semiconductor giants are successively opening bases in Japan."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.