Mitsubishi Materials to double tungsten recycling capacity at Japan New Metals
Materials & chemicalsAkita
Mitsubishi Materials will invest approximately ¥8 billion to upgrade hydrometallurgical and recycling equipment at its subsidiary Japan New Metals' Akita Plant, nearly doubling ammonium paratungstate (APT) production capacity to 2,400 tons per year. The project supports domestic tungsten resource circulation and reduces Japan's import dependence on the critical mineral.
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.
ADEKA will build a new manufacturing plant for its high-performance TRANSPAREX clarifying agent at the third plant of subsidiary ADEKA KOREA CORPORATION in Wanju County, South Korea. The plant will be built in surplus space at an existing semiconductor-materials facility to secure supply as demand expands; construction is scheduled to run from December 2026 to June 2028, with operations beginning in November 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.
Fujifilm has completed a new building at the Oita plant of Fujifilm Electronics Materials Co., Ltd. and began operations in August 2026. The facility manufactures and tests post-CMP cleaners, adding automated production equipment and quality-evaluation instruments to expand the plant's manufacturing capacity to three times its previous level, supporting growing AI-semiconductor demand.
ADEKA will expand production equipment for photo-acid generators used in advanced semiconductor photoresists, including EUV lithography, by adding a manufacturing line inside an existing building at its Chiba plant in Sodegaura. The approximately ¥1 billion investment is scheduled to start construction in January 2027, finish in February 2028, and begin commercial operations in September 2028, doubling capacity from the current level.