Sumitomo Chemical To Produce High-Purity Gallium In China
Tokyo, Japan. Sumitomo Chemical Co. is forming a joint venture in Shanghai, China for the production of high-purity gallium, starting from the fall. Sumitomo Chemical will own 70% of the new firm, while the remaining 30% will be evenly split between Inabata & Co. and the US chemical manufacturing group Technical Sourcing International. The Shanghai firm will build a factory with the capacity to refine 40 tons of high-purity gallium per year using a proprietary technology provided by Sumitomo Chemical. High-purity gallium is used in the production of compound semiconductor wafers and organometallic materials. Sumitomo Chemical will handle the entire output from the Shanghai factory, selling most the gallium to users in Japan. The company already produces 40 tons of high-purity gallium at a factory in Japan and plans to boost that factory s capacity to 60 tons within the year. That and the Shanghai facility will give Sumitomo access to 100 tons of high-purity gallium per year.
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