Mitsubishi Materials to Boost Polycrystalline Silicon Output

Tokyo, March 14 (Jiji Press)–Mitsubishi Materials Corp. said Friday it will invest 33.5 billion yen to boost the production capacity of its polycrystalline silicon factory in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, western Japan.

With the investment, including the costs of land acquisition, the plant’s annual production capacity will be increased from 1,800 tons to 2,800 tons.

The company will acquire land next to the Yokkaichi plant to build new production facilities. It plans to put them into operation in 2010.

Polycrystalline silicon is a material of semiconductor wafers.

Mitsubishi Materials aims to increase the production capacity of the Yokkaichi plant further, to 3,000 to 4,000 tons in the future, in order to meet growing demand for use in not only semiconductors but solar batteries as well, it said.

Currently, the company also produces 1,500 tons of polycrystalline silicon per year at its plant in the U.S. state of Alabama.END

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