Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has acquired industrial development land at the Choshu Dejima artificial island in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, for Mitsubishi Shipbuilding to expand its shipbuilding capacity. The plan includes relocating some functions from the Shimonoseki Shipyard Eura Plant and building a new hull-block manufacturing plant; the project is expected to receive up to JPY 40 billion in government support.
Okayama Prefecture announced that Okayama Murata Manufacturing will use the prefecture's Large Investment and Base Development Promotion Subsidy for an equipment investment of approximately 9 billion yen to expand the ceramic raw material production line at its main plant in Setouchi, Okayama. Construction is scheduled to start in October 2026, with operation beginning in April 2028.
Shikoku Chuken will build a new headquarters facility on land adjacent to its existing headquarters in Ayagawa, Kagawa. The facility will expand research and development using clinical specimens and testing data collected from across Shikoku, along with corporate planning, information processing and administrative functions; operations are scheduled to begin in January 2028.
Sumitomo Metal Mining held a completion ceremony for battery recycling plants at its Toyo and Nickel plants in Ehime. The plants recycle nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper from used automotive batteries and have annual feedstock processing capacity of approximately 10,000 tonnes on a battery-cell-equivalent basis.
Tokuyama will install new production equipment at its Advanced Technology Commercialization Center in Yanai, Yamaguchi, to increase aluminum nitride powder production capacity by approximately 30% from current levels. The facility is scheduled to begin commercial operation in April 2028, supporting demand from semiconductor manufacturing equipment components and thermal-management materials amid growing AI-related investment.
JFE Steel will expand surface-processing equipment for high-performance steel sheets at the Kurashiki district of its West Japan Works in Okayama, using Okayama Prefecture large-scale investment and regional hub promotion subsidy support. Construction is scheduled to start in October 2026, with operations beginning in June 2028.
ZEON has started construction of a new single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) plant at its Tokuyama Factory in Shunan, Yamaguchi. The plant will use an advanced proprietary process based on the Super Growth method and is expected to begin full-scale operations in 2028, expanding production capacity several dozen times from the current level to meet growing lithium-ion battery demand.
Nippon Marine Foods has decided to build a new plant on its headquarters factory site in Otsubo-honmachi, Shimonoseki, to expand production of processed seafood products. The project is being advanced under a construction agreement with Shimonoseki City, with a signing ceremony scheduled for August 31, 2026.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries has started commissioning a pilot-test facility for gasification in Niihama, Ehime, Japan. The facility is an R&D and pilot plant for validating gasification technology and related process equipment; no investment amount or capacity is disclosed in the provided text.
Local Energy System, backed by Kumagai Gumi, Kiyomoto Iron Works and Shinsho Corporation, completed a black bark pellet manufacturing plant in Saijo, Ehime. The plant uses bark from sawmills to produce wood pellets and thermally processes them into black bark pellets for power-generation and industrial applications; trial operations will continue through September 2026, with commercial operations planned from October 2026.
Karitsu opened the Higashi-Hiroshima Logistics Center on August 17, 2026, consolidating logistics functions previously dispersed across the Hiroshima area. The center is intended to improve the efficiency of storage, transportation, and logistics administration; no investment amount or facility scale was disclosed.
PowerX plans to begin mass production of its Mega Power 4000 battery systems in May 2027. The liquid-cooled LFP units provide up to 4,680 kWh per 20-foot container. In an August 13 production-plan update, the company added the series to the product mix of its Tamano headquarters factory and planned Tomakomai factory. The additional Tamano production line remains scheduled for January 2027, while the Tomakomai factory is now scheduled to open in July 2028. Planned annual capacity is 800 systems at each factory, across the stated product mix; this is not a capacity figure exclusively for Mega Power 4000.
Mitsubishi Chemical has begun using electricity from a floating solar power facility installed at the regulating pond of its Hiroshima plant under an onsite power purchase agreement. Kyowalak Co., Ltd. installed, owns and operates the facility, which supplies part of the site's electricity without using the external transmission grid.
Shikoku Kasei Industries will build a new advanced semiconductor materials manufacturing plant in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture to meet growing demand for high-performance semiconductors driven by AI and 5G adoption. The facility will introduce state-of-the-art production equipment and establish high-level quality management systems, with operations planned to begin July 2027 and 20 new employees.
Orthopedic medical device maker Nakashima Health Force will relocate its head office and factory to a new site in the Iwata district of Akaiwa City, Okayama Prefecture, investing approximately JPY 10 billion. The new facility will triple floor space versus the current plant, adding labor-saving/automation equipment and metal 3D printers, plus solar power, backup generators and water tanks for disaster resilience.
Auto parts maker Shinko Kogyo has constructed a new base called the 'Innovation Center' at its existing Soja City (Okayama Prefecture) site, combining head office functions and a factory. The facility aims to prototype and mass-produce higher value-added drivetrain components, boosting profitability; it also includes an on-site nursery.
Izumo Murata Manufacturing, a production subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing, has completed a new production building at its Izumo, Shimane Prefecture site for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Construction began in March 2024 on the 10-story steel-frame building, with total investment including production equipment reaching approximately JPY 47 billion, as Murata continues to diversify MLCC production across Japan, ASEAN, and China to build a flexible, resilient supply chain.
Micron broke ground on a new cleanroom building at its Hiroshima fab (Higashihiroshima) to scale production of advanced memory for AI, committing about ¥1.5 trillion in total across the phased build-out. Phase I covers roughly 28,000 sqm; Fujita Corporation is the general construction partner, with production equipment move-in slated for late 2028. The fab - Japan's only DRAM manufacturing site, rooted in the former Elpida operation - will produce next-generation memory including EUV-based 1-gamma DRAM. The project is backed by up to ¥536bn of METI support announced in September 2025.
Precision parts machining company Technos (Soja City) has completed a new factory in Tottori City, equipping it with multiple large machining centers to handle larger components. The facility targets order growth in advanced sectors such as semiconductors and aerospace, with future plans to leverage AI in production.
Discount store operator Daikokuten Bussan will construct a new process center in Kannonji City, Kagawa Prefecture, for food manufacturing, processing, and distribution. The facility aims to expand product supply capacity, reduce logistics costs, and improve freshness for the company's 251-store discount chain network, with operations expected to begin September 2027 and 251 new jobs created.
Rot Service Co., Ltd., a Takamatsu-based general freight trucking company, will construct a new branch facility in Takamatsu's Kanan area for storage and transport of consigned freight across Shikoku. The project has been designated for subsidies under Kagawa Prefecture's corporate investment incentive ordinance, with operations slated to begin April 2027.
Samson Co., Ltd., a Kagawa-based maker of boilers and food processing equipment, will construct a new R&D/testing facility at its Kannonji, Kagawa headquarters site to develop new food equipment products and labor-saving robots for food factories amid labor shortages. The company has been designated as eligible for subsidies under Kagawa Prefecture's corporate investment ordinance, with operations expected to begin in April 2027.
Hattendo Co., Ltd. (Mihara, Hiroshima), known for its chilled cream bread, will break ground on June 5, 2026 for a new factory within its 'Hattendo Village' food theme park near Hiroshima Airport. The facility will expand its bread and confectionery lineup for gift/souvenir products, pursue FSSC22000 food safety certification, and include a visitor experience facility, with completion expected in June 2027.
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