Shin-Etsu Chemical (Tokyo) announced it would make a new ¥100 billion investment in its silicones portfolio, one of the core parts of its Functional Materials business segment.
In February 2022, Shin-Etsu announced an investment plan worth ¥80 billion in order to meet the strong demand from customers for our advanced functional silicone products. While the investments under the plan have been almost implemented, the demand for high-performance silicone products has continued to grow since then. Notably, there are high expectations for eco-friendly products that are useful for promoting the goal of carbon neutrality, and the demand for them will continue to grow. In response, the company will expand the applications of its silicone products and work to enhance the advanced functionality of the products.
Shin-Etsu’s silicones products have been contributing to realizing smaller, as well as lighter-weight end products, from aircraft to electric vehicles. In addition, the silicones products are also helping to extend the service lifetime of end products because of their advantage of long-term stability. Furthermore, they are used in developing products that help achieve resource, energy, and electric power saving. Such products are used in a wide range of fields, including the automotive, semiconductor and communications industries. They are used, for example, in our heat-dissipating sheets, which are essential for the ongoing transition to electric vehicles (EVs), as well as in components incorporated into wind power-generation systems, a renewable energy source whose installations are greatly increasing. Shin-Etsu’s silicones products also contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, not only in customers’ manufacturing processes but also in the usage stage of the final products. Examples of such products are Shin-Etsu’s high-consistency silicone rubber and our advanced LIMS (Liquid Injection Molding System) materials, both of which do not require post-curing (reheating) after molding, and our silicones used for low-temperature curing release paper.
Under Shin-Etsu’s newly announced silicones investment plan, in addition to implementing investments for the company’s main silicones production hub in Japan, the Gunma Complex in Gunma Prefecture, we will also make new investments at the Naoetsu Plant in Niigata Prefecture, the Takefu Plant in Fukui Prefecture and the Group company plant in Thailand, where silicone monomer and polymer production is carried out. The company will also invest further in our existing silicone plants in other Asian countries, the United States and Hungary.