With the two-nanometer semiconductor chips scheduled to go into mass production at the Rapidus plant in Chitose in 2027, anticipation is high in Hokkaido, Japan, and around the world that the chips will reboot Japan’s domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry. But how many of us really have an understanding of how this critical technology works?

In clear, jargon-free language, Mr. Lawrence took society members through a bilingual PowerPoint of the manufacturing process–from the moment a chip starts as a piece of ultrapure silicon in the form of an ingot, which is refined from sand, through a process that includes being sliced into thin wafers,putting layers of substrate, as well as conducting and insulating materials, to imprinting circuit patterns, to the final cleaning and inspection process to ensure there is no dust. Even a piece of dust 2 mn wide can damage the entire wafer, Mr. Lawrence said.

The highlight of the presentation came when Mr. Lawrence asked participants to observe the tiny chip and small piece of paper taped inside the small, clear plastic box that had been on the tables in front of each participant. Imagine, he said, if that tiny little chip, not much larger than a large grain of sand, were blown up to an area that matches the land area of Japan, compressed into a square. That would be a chip 614.8 X 614.8 square kilometers–roughly the distance between the Sapporo Park Hotel and Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture going north to south.

On a chip the size of Japan, then, what would be the equivalent of two nanometers, which is what Rapidus is developing? Just 8.2 centimeters!

Mr. Lawrence also spoke on what was going on in other parts of Japan where semiconductor manufacturing plays an important role in the local economy. But he quoted a warning of a Kumamoto prefectural assemblyman who noted that while it was easy to set up a semiconductor factory if the government gives you money, staffing is impossible without a local investment in people.

But in a sense, this is a form of “good trouble” for local businesses, as it spurs older, stagnant economies to reinvent themselves.

All of Hokkaido looks forward to the Rapidus project and hopes that it will be the centerpiece of a larger economic revitalization effort. Thanks to Mr. Lawrence’s excellent presentation, Hokkaido Japan-America Society members have a much better understanding of the semiconductor industry itself.