Japanese government funding for chipmaker Rapidus sparks controversy

The Japanese government's financial assistance to chipmaker Rapidus has been criticized, with opposition lawmakers accusing it of using budgetary tricks over the source of funds. Last November, the Japanese government announced that it would invest at least 10 trillion yen (about 63.6 billion U.S. dollars) over seven years to support the domestic semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries. The first 1.3 trillion yen has been allocated in the supplementary budget for this fiscal year, part of which will be used to support Rapidus, which Tokyo hopes will bring advanced chip production back to Japan.