Showa Denko started its Project 2020+ medium-term management plan in December 2015, and their specialty gas business for semiconductors, identified as a growth-acceleration area in that plan, continues to perform well, The Gas Review reported.
Results for Showa Denko’s 2017 fiscal year show that sales of specialty gases reached YEN 35 billion, and a 15% higher target of YEN 40 billion has been set for 2018.
General Manager Masamichi Yagishita reflects on the two years since he became Corporate Officer and the General Manager of the Electronic Chemicals Division in January 2016, “User trends were somewhat flat immediately after I assumed my current post, but demand in semiconductors and displays started to pick up from the fourth quarter of 2016. Then 2017 saw user operating rates remained at a high level, and shipments continued to be strong for specialty gases as well as for Solfine high-purity solvents, abatement devices, and other products.”
According to Yagishita, of the specialty gases, sales of etching gases were particularly strong, driven by increased production of 3D memory devices. Showa Denko supplies more than 20 different types of specialty gases and more than half of them are used for etching. Showa Denko has reinforced production of specialty gases since the start of Project 2020+, with capital investments focused on these etching gases.
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