March 27, 2006 – Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. (DNS) is planning to double its investments to 30 billion yen (about US $256.2 million) over the next three years, to increase capacity for semiconductor and LCD glass substrate manufacturing equipment, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The money will be used to build two facilities at the company’s site in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, by the end of fiscal 2006, in order to boost output capacity for 300mm wafer-cleaning equipment by 50%. The new facilities also will produce exposure machines with larger workspaces to handle bigger glass substrates.

DNS is targeting a 25% increase in total sales over its next three fiscal years, to 880 billion yen ($7.51 billion), and aims to increase operating margins from 7.1% to 10% over the same period.