Japanese semiconductor materials companies seek to increase their strength

Recently, Japanese semiconductor material manufacturer Japan Synthetic Rubber Company (JSR) announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire US photoresist startup Inpria for US$514 million (approximately RMB 2.
446 billion)
.

Market participants said that Japanese semiconductor manufacturers have been squeezed by overseas companies and have lost their previous strong momentum.

It is reported that since its establishment in 2007, Inpria has been committed to the development of metal-based EUV photoresist, and achieve the world's highest performance extreme resolution under EUV exposure, so it has attracted much attention in the industry
.

Currently, JSR holds 21% of Inpria

At present, due to the popularization of 5G and the expansion of new crown pneumonia epidemic, the semiconductor market is showing great prosperity
.

In this context, the growth expectations of equipment companies are also strengthening

According to reports, the semiconductor manufacturing process is divided into the "pre-process" of forming electronic circuits on silicon wafers, and "post-processes" such as packaging and performance testing
.

Tokyo Electronics, a representative company in the semiconductor-related field in Japan, is a "pre-process" equipment company second only to American Applied Materials and Dutch ASML, and ranks third in the world in terms of operating income

In the pre-process, the highest added value is the lithography equipment, which is monopolized by ASML
.

In the field closely related to lithography, Japan’s Lasertec is growing rapidly

In the field of silicon wafers as substrate materials, Japanese companies hold the largest share
.

In the field of silicon wafers, Shin-Etsu Chemical Industry and SUMCO, which rank first in the world, together hold approximately 60% of the market share

Regarding the photoresist used when firing circuits on the wafer, Japanese companies have a 90% share
.

JSR and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo are representative companies

　　In addition, Japanese integrated companies with petrochemicals as their core business also focus on high-value-added semiconductor materials
.

The main products include cleaning agents and special gases for film shape processing