December 5, 2007 – Hitachi Chemical plans to boost its production capacity for CMP slurry by 50% to 15,000 tons/year by next June, its second upgrade in the past year, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. The increase will happen through a projected 3.5B yen (US $31.8M) expansion at Yamakazi Works in Ibaraki Prefecture, with extra work to start in January.
Hitachi Chemical previously beefed up its production capacity in February, but decided there is sufficient demand in the semiconductor industry (particularly the flash memory sector) to warrant further expansion, the paper noted. Sales are expected to double to 25B yen in the next five years.