Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp) has decided to establish its subsidiary’s second factory in Shanghai to produce high-purity gases for electronics. Shanghai Showa Electronics Materials Co., Ltd. (SSE), which is SDK’s wholly owned subsidiary producing high-purity gases for electronics, will establish facilities to produce high-purity nitrous oxide (N2O) and high-purity octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8) gases and a dangerous-goods warehouse to stock high-pressure gases. The second factory will start its operations in the second half of 2021.
High-purity N2O is a specialty gas used to form oxidized films on surfaces of integrated circuits, which will compose semiconductor chips or display panels. High-purity C4F8 is a specialty gas used for etching of those oxidized films and other micromachining processes. Due to progress in information communication technologies including 5G mobile communication technology and Chinese government’s policy to nurture high-technology industry, the market in China for semiconductor chips and display panels (e.g., organic electroluminescent display panels for TVs, etc.) is expected to expand.
The Showa Denko Group is now producing high-purity N2O at its Kawasaki Plant and a site of a group company in Korea, and high-purity C4F8 at Kawasaki Plant and SSE’s First Factory in Shanghai.
The new factory will cover an area of about 10,000m2. The new facilities will be designed to produce 1,000 tons per year of high-purity N2O, as well as 600 tons per year of high-purity C4F8.
Operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2021.
In addition, since the market for semiconductor chips in Taiwan is also expected to expand, SDK’s subsidiary Taiwan Showa Chemicals Manufacturing Co., Ltd. will establish a new facility to produce high-purity C4F8 with annual production capacity of 150 tons. The startup of operations of the new facility is scheduled to be in the spring of 2020. Total amount of investment to establish new facilities in Shanghai and Taiwan is about 3 billion yen.