Sumitomo Chemical To Expand Production Capacity For High-Purity Chemicals For Semiconductors At Its Ehime Works And In South Korea

Sumitomo Chemical has decided to expand its production capacity for high-purity chemicals for semiconductors. The Company will install new production lines to double the capacity for high-purity sulfuric acid at its Ehime Works (Niihama city, Ehime, Japan) and increase the capacity for high-purity ammonia water at the Iksan Plant of Dongwoo Fine-Chem Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary in South Korea, by approximately 40%. The new production lines are due to commence operation in the first half of fiscal 2024 for Ehime Works, and the second half of fiscal 2023 for the Iksan Plant.

Sumitomo Chemical’s business of high-purity chemicals for semiconductors got its start in 1978, when the Company began the production of sulfuric acid and nitric acid for semiconductors at its Chiba Works in Japan. The production of high-purity sulfuric acid at the Ehime Works commenced in 1991, and today the Company actively engages in this business in Japan, South Korea, and China. High-purity chemicals used in the semiconductor production process, mainly for precision cleaning, are manufactured by using ultra-high purification technology to reduce impurities down to a parts-per-trillion level in order to prevent foreign materials such as metal and organic impurities from affecting both quality and yield of semiconductors. Sumitomo Chemical’s products meet those stringent requirements and possess superior quality stability as the Company takes thorough measures to eliminate impurities in every step from manufacturing to delivery and has put in place a rigorous quality assurance system based on nano-scale impurity analytical technology. In addition, the Company has been receiving high acclaim from semiconductor manufacturers in and outside Japan for its delivery track record over many years to customers’ advanced production lines and agility in adapting its supply capacity to increases in demand. With Dongwoo Fine-Chem operating two production bases, the Pyeongtaek and Iksan Plants, in South Korea and Sumika Electronic Materials (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. and Sumika Electronic Materials (Changzhou) Co., Ltd., subsidiaries in China, manufacturing and selling high-purity chemicals in the country, the Sumitomo Chemical Group has built a global supply system focused on being close to its customers’ production sites.

The semiconductor device market has continued to grow, driven by demand for 5G smartphones and, amid lifestyle changes, increased demand for personal computers and data center-related equipment. Against this backdrop, demand for high-purity chemicals, which are essential to the semiconductor production process, is expected to continue to increase strongly. By the capacity expansion both in Ehime and Korea, the Sumitomo Chemical Group will provide a stable supply of high-purity chemicals.

Sumitomo Chemical positions contribution to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation as one of the material issues to be addressed as management priorities. The Company will continue to provide a stable supply of high quality products to contribute to the advancement of the semiconductor industry, which is indispensable for achieving smart mobility and a smart society, as represented by Society 5.0 in Japan.