Shin Etsu Chemical : to construct new cutting-edge photomask blanks plant in Fukui Prefecture

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, President: Shunzo Mori) will construct a new plant in Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan as its aims to expand its photomask blanks business. The industrial-use land site has already been acquired and Shin-Etsu is expecting to complete the plant's construction and start operations by the end of 2016. The investment amount is expected to be about ¥7 billion.
One of the objectives of the construction of this new plant is to steadily capture the demand for cutting-edge photomask blanks, which is rapidly expanding. Furthermore, this new plant will enable us to have multiple photomask blanks production bases.
Shin-Etsu Chemical commercialized photomask blanks in 2009 and began production at the company's Naoetsu Plant in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Since then, the company has been continuing to expand production at this plant. We plan to disperse business risks by having two production bases so that we will be able to fulfill our responsibility to supply our products to customers even if a serious unexpected event such as a natural disaster should occur.
With the construction of the new plant, Shin-Etsu Chemical's photomask blanks production capacity will increase by 20% from its present level; however, going forward, we aim to double our present production capacity.
Photomask blanks are the base material of photomasks that are used as the patterning templates of circuits on silicon wafers during the semiconductor lithography process.
For many years Shin-Etsu Chemical has been focusing on research-and-development of various essential materials used in semiconductor manufacturing processes. A representative example of the fruits of these R&D efforts is the photoresist, a photosensitive polymer material that is used in the exposure process of integrated circuits on wafers.
Photomask blanks were also turned into products as another result of our R&D efforts to develop essential materials for semiconductor manufacturing.
Since then, Shin-Etsu Chemical has continued its development of cutting-edge photomask blanks that respond to the needs of our customers. As a result, Shin-Etsu has succeeded in developing photomask blanks that can be used to realize super- high-precision microfabrication.
Shin-Etsu Chemical's cutting-edge photomask blanks are recognized as the world's standard.
With the increase in production volume of semiconductor devices and the progress in microfabrication, demand for photomask blanks is increasing. With the construction of this new photomask blanks plant, Shin-Etsu Chemical will capture the increase in demand for photomask blanks and will further expand the business.