New trends of Japanese semiconductor material suppliers: Continue capacity expansion

Japanese semiconductor material suppliers faced declining sales in the second half due to weak demand from consumer applications, but many of them are still expanding capacity in Taiwan and Japan. Shipments of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical's commodity BT resin for IC substrates (used to process low-end smartphone and TV chips) have fallen month-on-month since May this year, and another manufacturer JSR's second-quarter shipments Reduced due to logistical stagnation due to COVID.

The outbreak in China and the reversal in demand for memory and CMOS image sensor applications also weighed on its annual revenue performance.

Sales of Mitsui Chemicals' wafer back grinding protective tape were barely affected in the second quarter, but may decline in the second half as customers adjust inventories, sources said.

Despite short-term fluctuations in semiconductor demand, many Japanese semiconductor material makers are still making capacity expansion investment projects as they remain optimistic about long-term demand.

Toppan Photomask, a subsidiary of Toppan Printing, has decided to invest 20 billion yen ($150 million) in capacity expansion in Taiwan and Japan in fiscal year 2023 (April 2023-March 2024), mainly for manufacturing 5- Photomasks for 10nm logic chips and 10nm DRAM chips are expected to increase production capacity for sub-40nm photomasks by 20% from 2020 levels. Its photomasks have been adopted by major foundries in Taiwan and the United States.

Dainippon Printing (DNP) also disclosed plans to invest about 10 billion yen to expand photomask production lines in Taiwan, Japan and China.

Adeka, a supplier of high-dielectric materials, is building a new plant at its manufacturing base in South Korea, aiming to double its production capacity there. The Japanese manufacturer has also just begun construction of a new factory in southern Taiwan at a total cost of 2.5 billion yen to produce silicon wafer wiring materials for chips below 5 nanometers, and the new factory will go into commercial production in April 2024 year.

Mitsubishi Chemical has also increased the production capacity of high-purity sulfuric acid at its Taiwan plant by 1.5 times, and a new Taiwan plant in Tokuyama will begin mass production of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) with a purity of over 99.99% for wafer cleaners in 2022.