Asia Tech Wire (Oct 18) -- Toyota Motor said Friday it plans to make an additional investment in Japanese semiconductor maker Rapidus.

The Japanese automaker hopes to provide financial support for Rapidus' plan to mass-produce next-generation semiconductors by 2027.

Rapidus previously called on existing shareholders and banks to help it increase its capital by about 100 billion yen ($670 million), saying it needs nearly 5 trillion yen to produce 2nm chips.

In addition to Toyota, other shareholders are also considering injecting more money into Rapidus, such as Japanese auto parts maker Denso.

News broke in late September that four Japanese banks, including MUFG Bank and the government-backed Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) were considering contributing up to 25 billion yen ($175 million) to Rapidus.

Founded in August 2022, Rapidus is a joint venture of eight Japanese companies - Toyota, Sony, NTT, NEC, SoftBank, Denso, Kioxia, and MUFG Bank - with a total capital contribution of 7.3 billion yen.