January 31, 2012 – JCN Newswire — Bonding wire supplier Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K., of Tanaka Precious Metals, will establish a production subsidiary for manufacturing copper bonding wire in Taiwan, with manufacturing ramp on February 1.

Tanaka Electronics Taiwan Co. Ltd. will be a production center in Zhongli City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan. This is Tanaka Denshi Kogyo’s 4th wire production center globally (Japan, Singapore, and China). It will have capital of TWD285 million (approx. 730 million yen). Tanaka Denshi Kogyo decided to transition from just sales & support in Taiwan to full-scale production due to accelerated copper wire adoption. The 4th location also spreads Tanaka’s supply base to offset impacts by natural disasters.

Copper wire demand from semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor assembly subcontractors in Taiwan is rapidly increasing. The company aims to ship 100 million meters of wire per month by 2014. Approximately 1 billion meters of bonding wire is produced per month worldwide, estimates Tanaka Precious Metals.

Copper wire is a lower-cost alternative to gold bonding wire for semiconductor packaging. Copper wire accounts for about 20% of all bonding wire at present, and could reach 40% by 2013 as more packages transition from gold to copper wire bonds.

Tanaka Denshi Kogyo has the world’s leading share in bonding wire as a whole, and gold wire. Website: http://www.tanaka-bondingwire.com/

Tanaka Precious Metals has a diversified range of business activities focused on the use of precious metals. Learn more at www.tanaka.co.jp.

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