DUBLIN, OH — Ashland Specialty Chemical Company announced the formation of Ashland Taiwan Co., Ltd. (ATCL). Simultaneously, it announced the opening of its first applications laboratory for technical support of its strippers and etch residue removers in Asia.
Ashland’s cleanroom applications laboratory is the first such facility opened in Taiwan by any supplier of strippers and etch residue removers, and the first opened by anyone in the entire region outside of Japan.
ATCL will sell Ashland-ACT photoresist stripper products in Taiwan and provide technical support for customers throughout Asia. ATCL’s prime location makes it an especially convenient resource for semiconductor manufacturers in the nearby Science Park. Ashland Specialty Chemical’s Electronic Chemicals Division (ECD) also has applications facilities in Japan, and in California, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the United States. It is planning to open another such facility in Europe next year.
“Our new applications lab in Taiwan is equipped with the latest and most sophisticated process equipment. This enables us to offer the same advanced level of technical support — including copper and 300mm wafer process technologies — that Ashland is known for providing at its other applications centers,” Shon said. “Backed by the expansive Ashland-ACT product line and our fine new facilities, our technicians stand ready to assist customers with finding the solutions to today’s increasing demands for peak performance,” he added.
Ashland’s growing Electronic Chemicals Division operations have their regional headquarters in Singapore, where Marcello Boldrini is based as ECD’s business director for Asia.
Boldrini noted Ashland’s string of accomplishments, saying: “We are pleased to be making this additional new investment in the Asian region, which again shows Ashland’s commitment to the global semiconductor marketplace. This follows our opening of a manufacturing facility for photoresist strippers and etch residue removers in Pyongtaek, Korea in 1999 and then expanding that facility last year. More recently, there was the opening of a $25 million (USD) wet process chemicals manufacturing facility in the Tahfa Industrial Complex in southern Taiwan, in which Ashland and Union Petrochemical Corp. each hold a 50-percent interest. Our manufacturing and business network is stronger than ever and continues to provide the products and services that will assist the semiconductor industry’s progress in this new century.”
Ashland-ACT is a business unit of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company’s Electronic Chemicals Division.