Japan is working with the United States in a "bilateral chip technology partnership" in an effort to bolster manufacturing for 2nm chips as early as 2025. The plan is to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and keep the company from dominating the next-gen chip market even more than it has already.
According to a report from Nikkei (thanks, The Register) companies from both the US and Japan will work together on the research, design, and manufacturing of 2nm chips. These smaller semiconductors will be used in devices such as quantum computers, data centers, and smartphones. The benefit of 2nm over, let's say, 5nm chips used for the Apple M1 chips is the reduced power consumption along with speedier processing.
The report also says that the size of the chips can "determine the performance of military hardware as well, including fighter jets and missiles. In that light, 2nm chips are directly linked to national security."
