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Fujifilm to buy Entregris semiconductor chemicals business

Fujifilm has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire KMG Corporation, the semiconductor high purity process chemicals (HPPC) business of Entegris for $700 million. This will bring it 12 new sites, including seven manufacturing sites in the US, Europe and Singapore, employing about 560.

The company said that it will now be able to offer a wider range of electronic chemicals, including KMG’s line of HPPCs for etching and cleaning silicon wafers. It will also add KMG’s Total Chemical Management (TCM) business, which includes logistical services in Southeast Asia and Europe.

Merck to grow speciality gases

Merck KGaA has reached an agreement with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to support a €300 million investment to expand its semiconductor manufacturing site in Hometown (pictured) by further develop the world's largest integrated speciality gases facility. About 68 new jobs will be created.

This is part of the Electronics business sector’s Level Up growth programme, which envisages spending over €3 billion in innovation and capacity expansion projects in the US, Germany and Asia by the end of 2025. Other investments to date and ongoing include:

Merck KGaA breaks ground in Taiwan

Merck KGaA has broken ground for a new production facility on a 150,000 m2 site for its Semiconductor Solutions business at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It will produce speciality gases and semiconductor materials for thin film and patterning from 2025 onwards.

Semiconductor Solutions has been designated as one Merck’s ‘Big 3’ growth drivers. It forms part of the Electronics business sector, which started its ‘Level Up’ growth programme in 2021 with the aim of investing “significantly more than €3 billion” in innovations and capacity expansion projects by 2025.

Merck completes M Chemicals buy

Merck KGaA has closed its previously announced details to acquire M Chemicals, the company recently incorporated by Mecaro to operate its chemical business. This will bring it around 100 new employees as well as advanced production and R&D facilities in Korea.

The company said that the newly acquired operation is “expected to complement a key segment of Merck’s Semiconductor Solutions portfolio”. This in turn is one of the ‘Big 3’ growth engines recently identified as driving Merck’s ‘Level Up, growth programme.

Toray opens Singapore centre

Japan’s Toray Industries has announced that it opened a research centre in Singapore in June. The centre is carrying out R&D into ‘electronic information materials’ and providing technical support in Southeast Asia. The company as a whole is seeking to build a global R&D structure spanning Japan, Korea and China.

MCG invests in SPHP

Japan’s Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MCG) has revealed that it is building an industrial hydrogen peroxide at the site of its Taiwanese subsidiary. Due onstream in early 2020, this will have capacity of some 40,000 tonnes/year.

MCG further said that this is part of its plans to grow in with super-pure hydrogen peroxide (SPHP) for electronic applications. SPHP is widely used in as a cleaning, etching and abrading agent in semiconductor wafer and device.

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