2014 News

Aiming to expand its silicone business, Shin-Etsu will strengthen its R&D system with the construction of a new research building at its Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center

To further strengthen its research and development activities for silicones, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, President: Shunzo Mori) has decided to construct a new research building at its Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center in Annaka City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.

The amount will be about ¥5 billion, and completion of the new facility is planned for the first half of 2016. The new research building will be constructed adjoining the existing Research Center building within the premises of the company's Gunma Complex's Matsuida Plant.

Silicone is a highly functional material with silicon metal as its main raw material and is used in wide range of application fields. The silicone business is one of Shin-Etsu Chemical's main businesses, and in October 2013, the company celebrated the 60th anniversary since it started the commercialization of silicone. We have developed over 5,000 kinds of silicone products, making use of our strengths in technology and R&D that we have nurtured up until now. Shin-Etsu's silicone business has obtained the largest share of the silicone market in Japan, and we are actively pursuing the expansion of our global silicones business.

With the construction of this new research building, we will be able to further enhance our research and development strengths regarding silicone products for promising fields where demand expansion is expected, such as healthcare, electric and electronics, energy and semiconductors, and we will aim to expand our silicone business by means of cultivating new applications. We anticipate that the newly strengthened Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center will play the key R&D role in driving forward our company's silicone business, and through coordinating efforts with Shin-Etsu's technical services bases in Asia, the U.S. and Europe, we will promote the development of products that will meet our customers' requirements.

Going forward, we will work to further strengthen the trinity of sales, R&D and manufacturing, and through our combined efforts to move ahead in these three areas, we will aim to expand our silicone business.

Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center
Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center
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