[News] Japan’s Fujifilm Reportedly to Expand in South Korea, Supplying Local Memory Giants amid HBM Boom

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As memory giants ramp up HBM production at full throttle, they are eager to find strong allies in the supply chain. Fujifilm Holdings, a Japanese semiconductor materials supplier, is said to build a new facility in South Korea to meet the booming demand from local memory chipmakers, including SK hynix and Samsung, according to Nikkei.

By doing so, Fujifilm aims to increase production by 30%, as noted by the report.

Citing Tetsuya Iwasaki, General Manager of Fujifilm’s Electronic Materials Division, the Nikkei report notes that the company plans to construct a new facility at its Cheonan plant for the production of CMP slurry, an abrasive powder used for polishing semiconductor wafers.

Fujifilm reportedly plans to invest several billion yen (1 billion yen roughly equals USD 6.5 million) in the new facility, which is expected to start mass production by spring 2027, as per Nikkei.

In late September, the Japanese semiconductor material giant announced an investment of 20 billion yen (about USD 130 million) in its semiconductor materials business, aiming to expand the facilities of advanced semiconductor materials in Shizuoka and Oita, Japan, according to its press release.

Shortly after, in early December, Fujifilm announced a 2 billion yen (USD 130 million) investment to expand CMP slurry capacity by 30% at its chip materials plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, which is also home to TSMC’s JASM plants. The new facilities are scheduled to start operation in January 2025, as noted by its press release.

According to Nikkei, Fujifilm sees its semiconductor materials business as a key growth area, with plans to invest 170 billion yen (USD 1.1 billion) in capital and research and development through the fiscal year ending March 2027.

Read more

• [News] SK Hynix’s HBM4 to Use TSMC’s 3nm Base Die
• [News] Samsung Reportedly Starts Developing Custom HBM4 for Big CSPs, Eyeing Mass Production by 2025

(Photo credit: Fujifilm)