Mitsubishi Chemical Announces Entry into Ultra-High-Purity Colloidal Silica for Semiconductors, with Kyushu Plant to Commence Operations in 2028

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has announced its entry into the ultra-high-purity colloidal silica business, with plans to build new production facilities at its Kyushu Plant (Fukuoka Site) in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, targeting commercial operation in October 2028. The project investment amounts to several billion yen. This material is the core raw material for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurries used in semiconductor manufacturing, applied to silicon wafer surface polishing and interconnect layer planarization.

Colloidal silica is indispensable in semiconductor manufacturing. CMP is a critical process in chip fabrication, achieving nanoscale planarization of wafer surfaces through a combination of chemical etching and mechanical polishing. As semiconductor processes continue to shrink and become increasingly layered, extremely high demands are placed on the purity, particle uniformity, and surface defect control of polishing materials. The ultra-high-purity colloidal silica being commercialized by Mitsubishi Chemical achieves a purity level of 6N (99.9999%), and is produced using ultra-high-purity tetramethoxysilane as the raw material through an integrated production process that minimizes impurity content. Leveraging its years of accumulated synthetic quartz manufacturing technology, the company can customize parameters such as particle size, density, and shape according to customer requirements.

Ultra-high-purity colloidal silica is the largest-component abrasive in CMP slurries, widely used in critical processes such as large-diameter silicon wafer final polishing, front-end polycrystalline silicon gate polishing, back-end copper interconnect and tungsten plug polishing, as well as advanced packaging polishing. The global market has long been dominated by a small number of companies, including Japan's Fuso Chemical, Evonik, Cabot, and Nouryon. Mitsubishi Chemical, which already has product lines such as synthetic quartz powder and photoresist resins in the semiconductor materials field, will further expand its semiconductor materials portfolio with this entry into CMP polishing materials.

Mitsubishi Chemical stated that the rapid growth of generative AI, data centers, and high-performance computing will continue to drive semiconductor demand, and wafer manufacturing's need for high-purity colloidal silica will grow accordingly. This project aligns with the core direction of "Enabling Advanced Data Processing and Communications" under the company's long-term management strategy, "KAITEKI Vision 35". The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun noted that Fuso Chemical currently holds a significant share of the ultra-high-purity colloidal silica market, and the expansion of semiconductor demand has prompted customers to diversify their procurement channels, which led Mitsubishi Chemical to decide to enter this field.