A collaboration among Japan's Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center (LSTC), Hokkaido University, Fujifilm, and Rapidus-backed partners aims to develop an AI-based medical image-processing system, with Hokkaido University handling AI design and evaluation and LSTC designing the required semiconductors.

Fujifilm will focus on AI for imaging tests and ultrasound examinations at medical facilities, as part of the broader system.

The project is funded as a commissioned program by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The information source is TV Tokyo Business (Telet–East Biz) with a linked video.

imec, the Belgium-based semiconductor R&D institute, will participate, broadening international collaboration.

If successful, mass-produced 2-nm chips could enable new medical equipment applications and help Rapidus expand beyond data centers and autonomous driving into healthcare.

The new chips are expected to deliver more than five times faster image-processing speeds than conventional GPUs and over tenfold greater energy efficiency, addressing real-time medical imaging needs.

Rapidus will handle semiconductor design and plans mass production of 2-nm chips in the second half of 2027, with production at a new plant in Chitose, Hokkaido; LSTC will design the specialized semiconductors.

The project plans to use 2-nanometer circuit-width chips from Rapidus targeting real-time image processing at medical sites and reduced power consumption.

Tetsuro Higashi, chairman of LSTC and Rapidus, stresses leveraging cutting-edge semiconductors to develop technologies beneficial at medical sites and in healthcare, announced at a Tokyo news conference.

The collaboration among LSTC, Fujifilm, and Hokkaido University was announced on October 20.