Ashland Specialty Chemical begins electronic chemicals stripper production in Europe

The Electronic Chemicals Division of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company, a wholly owned division of Ashland Inc., has begun production of ACT® photoresist stripper and etch residue remover products at its Ashland Italia Ltd. facility in Milan, Italy. Several products, including ACT CMI and ACT 970 strippers, will be available to European customers later this year.

"This is the next logical step in the globalization of the ACT product line from its beginnings in the United States," said Bob Rohlfing, Ashland-ACT business unit director. "To support the global nature of the semiconductor industry, we intend to be the leading supplier of photoresist strippers and etch residue removers in every region of the world."

Although wet-process chemicals are already produced at the Milan facility, this marks the first time the ACT stripper line has been manufactured locally in Europe. Previously, ACT stripper products were supplied to this market from the United States. Ashland also has a wholly owned facility in Korea (Ashland-ACT Korea Ltd.) that manufactures ACT products, as well as partnerships with two electronic materials suppliers in Japan, Nippon Zeon and Nagase, for supplying the Asian and Japanese semiconductor markets. Ashland plans to expand manufacture of the ACT product line in Europe during the next year and more to continue meeting the growing needs of European customers.

"We have built new installations in our Milan facility, supported by new analytical capabilities, in order to provide a level of service requested by our customers," said Geoffrey Hitchmough, Electronic Chemicals Division business director for Europe. "In addition, Ashland has taken additional steps to provide enhanced technical support to European customers of ACT products by relocating one of it senior applications engineering experts from the United States to Europe."

Ashland-ACT is a business unit of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company's Electronic Chemicals Division, a leading global supplier of ultrapure chemicals, photoresist strippers and on-site chemical management and parts cleaning services to the worldwide microelectronics industry.

The division operates an ISO 9001-certified production facility at Easton, Pa.; and ISO 9002-certified production facilities in Pueblo, Co.; Dallas; Milan, Italy; and Pyongtaek City, Korea. It also participates in a joint venture, Ashland Union Electronic Chemical Corp. (AUECC), serving Taiwan and the region. For further information on Ashland-ACT products, visit the web site at http://www.ashland-act.com.

Ashland Specialty Chemical Company, a division of Ashland Inc., is a leading, worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals serving industries including adhesives, automotive, composites, foundry, merchant marine, paint, paper, plastics, and semiconductor. Visit the Internet web site at http://www.ashspec.com to learn more about these operations.

Ashland Inc. is a Fortune 250 company providing products, services, and customer solutions throughout the world. Our businesses include road construction, specialty chemicals, lubricants, car-care products, chemical and plastics distribution and transportation fuels. Through the dedication of our employees, we are "The Who In How Things Work™." Find us at http://www.ashland.com.

Source: Ashland Specialty Chemical Company

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