Showa Denko reinforced its supply system of semiconductor processing specialty gases in three Asian bases of China, Taiwan and Singapore.

In China Showa Denko increased the production capacity of its high-purity ammonia producing affiliate in Zhejiang Province (Zhejiang Quzhou Juhua Showa Electronic Chemical Materials) up to 2000 t/y in January of this year. From June this year, ISO certified tank containers were put into operation in addition to the conventional cylinders, aiming at a bulk supply to local LED and LCP manufacturers whose consumption is growing year after year.

In Taiwan and Singapore, Showa Denko expanded its stockpiling warehouse in each country. In Taiwan Showa Denko newly built up a stockpiling warehouse in the vicinity of Taiwan Showa Chemicals Manufacturing located in Tainan, Taiwan which is operating the filling plant of various high-purity gases and the production of high-purity ammonia (2500 ton). In Singapore Showa Denko expanded by 30% the storing space of the stockpiling warehouse which was functioning as a logistics center of various high-purity gases including fluorine, halogen and ammonia gases. The expansion realized a more-than-double stockpiling.

Showa Denko is now pursuing its business management plan under PEGASUS Phase II. As for the segment of chemical products including high-purity specialty gases, the target is a sales growth up by 19 billion yen and a profit increase up by 4 billion yen. To attain the target Showa Denko has been increasing the production of ammonia and nitrogen monoxide and also reinforcing the supplying power at this time. Integrated in East Asia are the production bases of semiconductor, LCD panel, LED and solar cell which are expected to be customers. Showa Denko has a corporate policy to expand the whole Asian business by means of enhancing the five production and logistics centers in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China and Singapore.

Kohei Morikawa, director of Electronics & Chemical Business Division said, “High-purity specialty gases for electronics requirements have been on a track to recovery since the second half of last year, and are growing at a higher pace than expected during the first half of this year. The world market is on an upward trend mainly for fluorine gases in a tight demand, followed by high-purity ammonia. Although China will be the most important consumer in five years, we intend to keep investing positively from now on in order to cover demands all over the Asian area.”

(Photo: New warehouse in Taiwan and ISO container installed in the plant in China)