Connect with us
DAPA Banner

Crypto World

Japan Unleashes $4B More on Rapidus as 2nm AI Race Tightens

Published

on

Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

TLDR:

  • Japan lifted Rapidus backing to $16.3B as its 2nm AI chip production deadline remains fixed for 2027.
  • New funds support Fujitsu-linked design work and strengthen Japan’s domestic AI semiconductor stack.
  • Hokkaido foundry progress cleared ministry review, unlocking another ¥631.5B in state support.
  • The Rapidus plan ties AI compute growth to supply chain security and sovereign chip production.

Japan has added another ¥631.5 billion to Rapidus, deepening one of the world’s largest state-backed semiconductor bets. 

The new funding lifts total public support to ¥2.6 trillion, or about $16.3 billion, through March 2027. Rapidus remains central to Tokyo’s effort to rebuild domestic 2nm chip production for AI workloads and advanced computing. 

The move also tightens Japan’s broader technology push around supply chain resilience and sovereign semiconductor capacity.

Rapidus AI chip funding accelerates Japan’s 2nm roadmap

According to Bloomberg, the latest capital will support Rapidus’ development work tied to Fujitsu, one of the startup’s earliest targeted customers.

The Economy Ministry said an external committee reviewed the Hokkaido foundry and approved its technical progress before the subsidy release.

Advertisement

Rapidus, launched in 2022, is building out a domestic 2nm manufacturing line with technology cooperation from IBM. The company still targets mass production in 2027.

The project also carries backing from major Japanese corporates, including Toyota, Sony, and SoftBank, reinforcing its strategic importance beyond pure commercial returns.

Tokyo’s funding pace shows how AI infrastructure demand now overlaps with national industrial policy. Advanced nodes increasingly underpin cloud compute, robotics, and high-performance AI inference.

Japan’s semiconductor strategy targets AI supply chain security

The additional subsidy also supports design-related work involving Fujitsu and IBM Japan through NEDO programs.

Advertisement

That expands the project from fabrication into a fuller domestic semiconductor design stack, a critical step for AI chip independence.

Japan’s push comes as governments seek alternatives to concentrated foundry exposure in Taiwan and South Korea. For Tokyo, the Rapidus buildout doubles as economic security policy.

The 2nm target places Rapidus directly in competition with leading global foundries serving AI chip demand, where process leadership determines power efficiency and model performance.

For crypto markets, the development matters because AI data-center expansion increasingly overlaps with GPU supply, mining hardware innovation, and tokenized compute infrastructure.

Advertisement

As Bloomberg reported, the latest review focused on execution milestones at the Hokkaido site, where Tokyo wants proof the 2027 manufacturing deadline remains on track.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Crypto World

CoreWeave signs multi-year Anthropic deal as AI demand lifts cloud business

Published

on

Source: Yahoo Finance

CoreWeave has signed a multi-year agreement with Anthropic to support workloads for the Claude family of AI models. 

Summary

  • CoreWeave signed a multi-year Anthropic agreement to support Claude AI workloads across its data centers.
  • The company said it now serves nine major developers of large language models.
  • AI demand is drawing miners away as lower margins pressure traditional Bitcoin mining operations worldwide.

The deal adds another major customer to CoreWeave’s cloud business as the company expands its role in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

CoreWeave said Anthropic will use its cloud data centers to run AI workloads tied to Claude models. The company added that the agreement will roll out in phases and may grow over time as demand increases.

Advertisement

The announcement gave investors a fresh look at CoreWeave’s position in the AI sector. The company said the new agreement means it now serves nine of the 10 major developers of large language models.

CoreWeave shares rose more than 10% on Friday after the company announced the deal. The stock traded at around $102 at press time, showing a strong reaction from investors to the latest customer win.

Source: Yahoo Finance
Source: Yahoo Finance

The agreement came shortly after CoreWeave completed an $8.5 billion capital raise led by Meta Platforms. The financing was tied to deployed computing capacity and expected cash flows rather than graphics processing unit hardware, marking a different structure from older crypto mining funding models.

Moreover, CoreWeave shifted away from crypto mining and rebranded as an AI infrastructure company in 2019. The change came after mining economics weakened following the 2018 crypto market downturn.

Advertisement

That transition has become more relevant as more mining firms look at AI workloads for new revenue. Rising energy costs, lower block rewards, and weaker crypto prices have continued to pressure Bitcoin miners.

AI demand draws attention from miners

CoinShares said up to 20% of Bitcoin miners are now unprofitable in the current market. The report shows how tighter margins have made traditional mining harder to sustain for many operators.

Some firms are now looking to AI computing as a stronger use of power and hardware. Market analyst Ran Neuner noted

”Both industries compete for the same thing: electricity, and right now, AI is willing to pay much more for it.” 

His comment reflects a wider shift as miners weigh whether AI can offer steadier returns than crypto mining.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Crypto World

Arizona Judge Blocks Gambling Enforcement Against Kalshi Contracts

Published

on

Arizona Judge Blocks Gambling Enforcement Against Kalshi Contracts

A federal judge in Arizona has temporarily barred state officials from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi, siding with the CFTC.

A federal judge in Arizona has temporarily barred state officials from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi, siding with US regulators in a growing dispute over how event-based trading products should be classified.

In an order issued on Friday, Judge Michael Liburdi of the US District Court for the District of Arizona granted a request from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the federal government to halt any state-level action targeting contracts listed on CFTC-regulated markets .

Advertisement

The ruling centers on whether Kalshi’s “event contracts” fall under federal derivatives law or state gambling statutes. Last month, Arizona authorities sought to pursue enforcement against Kalshi under local gambling rules, but the CFTC asked a court order on Wednesday to stop the action.

The court said that the CFTC is likely to succeed in arguing that such contracts qualify as “swaps” under the Commodity Exchange Act, placing them within federal jurisdiction. The law grants the agency exclusive authority over swaps traded on designated contract markets.

Related: Prediction market users await Artemis II mission splashdown

Court halts Arizona enforcement against Kalshi

As part of the decision, Arizona officials are temporarily prohibited from initiating or continuing civil or criminal enforcement tied to Kalshi’s event contracts on regulated exchanges .

Advertisement

The restraining order will remain in effect until April 24, while the court considers whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction.

Kalshi notional volume. Source: Kalshidata

The case adds to a broader debate over prediction markets in the United States, particularly as regulators and states clash over whether such products resemble financial instruments or online betting. Last month, Utah lawmakers also passed a bill targeting Kalshi and Polymarket that classifies proposition-style bets on in-game events as gambling, aiming to block such offerings in the state.

Related: US appeals court upholds preventing New Jersey enforcement against Kalshi

Nevada judge extends ban on Kalshi

Last week, a Nevada judge extended a ban preventing Kalshi from offering event-based contracts in the state, siding with regulators who argue the products amount to unlicensed gambling.

The court found that the platform’s offerings closely resemble traditional sports betting. The judge said there is no meaningful distinction between placing a wager through a sportsbook and buying a contract tied to an event outcome, concluding that such activity falls under Nevada’s gaming laws.

Advertisement

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026