Hitachi Chemical Co has announced it will work together with Dow Chemical of the US to jointly develop insulation materials for semiconductors. Insulation materials dictate much of a computer’s processing speed and are key materials for PC system chips. A Hitachi official told the Japanese press that the company believes incorporating Dow’s cutting-edge chemical technology will help its chip materials business expand. Dow plans to transfer its new carbon-based materials technology. The main insulation materials will be produced at Dow’s Michigan plant and then exported to Japan.
The companies will jointly develop and produce insulation materials for sale initially to Japanese chipmakers and later to Korean and other overseas manufacturers. They are targeting sales of 3bn yen ($26m) in 2001, when production begins in earnest, rising to 10bn yen ($87m) in 2004. Globally, the chip material market was worth about 100bn yen ($870m) last year.
