Technical Insight
Sumitomo Chemical opens gallium refining plant in China (Headline News)
Sumitomo Chemical Co is forming a joint venture in Shanghai, China for the production of high-purity gallium, beginning in the fall of 2001. 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 Sumitomo Chemical s proprietary technology. Sumitomo Chemical will handle the entire output from the Shanghai factory, selling most of the gallium to users in Japan for the production of compound semiconductor wafers and organometallic materials. The company already refines 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, providing the company with a total capacity of 100 tons.
