Fujifilm to invest 70 billion yen in its semiconductor materials business, with a focus on photoresists

Fujifilm will invest 70 billion yen ($637 million) in its semiconductor materials business over the three years to March 2024 to cope with surging global demand for chips for 5G and artificial intelligence, NIKKEI Asia reported.

That was up about 40% from the previous three years. Fujifilm plans to boost revenue from chipmaking materials by about 30% to 150 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2024, making it a key growth driver along with its healthcare business.

Fujifilm is also paying special attention to the photoresist market needed for semiconductor manufacturing. The company will strengthen the production of extreme ultraviolet photoresist for the production of 5-nanometer or more advanced chips.

As part of the plan, Fujifilm will invest 4.5 billion yen in its plant in Shizuoka Prefecture to start producing EUV photoresist as early as this year.

Techcet Inc. of the United States predicts that the global EUV photoresist market will grow by about 90% to $51 million in 2021, and will grow at a rate of more than 50% per year until 2025. Fujifilm is working to increase production capacity to meet the growing demand.

It is reported that Fujifilm will produce six materials including photoresist used in chip manufacturing in 11 factories in Japan, the United States, Europe, South Korea and China. It will also expand the production capacity of other materials in the United States and use part of the 70 billion yen funds for research and development.