Dominique Numakura's Newsletter from Japan

A Conflict of Semiconductor Industry in Japan

The Semiconductor Industry News, a leading media of the semiconductor industry in Japan has reported the summary of the 2005 business plans of 15 major Japanese semiconductor manufacturers. Most of the manufacturers except Renesus and Seiko Epson have aggressive plans to grow this year. The total production of the companies will be about seven trillion yens, 7.0% growth from the previous year. Most of the manufacturers except Sony also plan for plus incomes this year.  The Japanese medias have been reporting the aggressive investment plans of the manufacturers in this year. I heard similar information from Korea and Taiwan.

On the other hand, SEAJ (Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan) released a very disappointing market data for May 2005. The booking of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment of the Japanese manufacturers in May 2005 was 97.47 billion yens, 40.1% decline from the same month of the last year. The shipping was 88.49 billion yens, 33.8% smaller than in May 2004. The B/B ratio was keeping a lower level than 1.00 continuously. These numbers are the total of domestic and exporting.  

It is a big mismatching. Which is true? Probably, SEAJ data represents the reality. It is my general understanding that the electronics industry in Japan is still slow, and there is no strong rebounding sign yet. Many industry analysts are expecting a flat growth in the semiconductor market in 2005

Now, it is already July.  The fist half of the year has gone. It may be difficult to expect a remarkable recovery in the second half.  Probably, the Japanese semiconductor manufacturers have to change their plans soon.

Dominique Numakura

Headlines of the week

Sumitomo Denko Hard Metal (Drill bit supplier in Japan)
Will increase the price of the drilling tools 10 to 15% from Aug. 1st because of the remarkable cost of the raw materials.

Toppan Printing (Major printing company in Japan)
Has developed a new printing process for the manufacturing of the color OELD devices. The new process provides 70 ppi.

Risho Kogyo (Major PWB material supplier in Japan)
Has developed a new substrate material for the LED devices. The new material makes the device's life much longer.

Hong Da and Shengli (TFT-LCD manufacturers in China)
Will invest 3 billion US$ for the 6th generation manufacturing plants of TFT-LCD. The technologies will be introduced from Taiwan.

Univision (Display manufacturer in Taiwan)
Will increase the manufacturing capacity of OELD 140% to 12 thousand sheets per month in July for new large orders.

NEDO (Public R&D in Japan)
Will collect the candidates publicly for the R&D project of the solid polymer fuel cells.
 
Hitachi Industries (Equipment manufacturer in Japan)
Commercialized a new middle class screen printer "HIGRAD HG-610" for the printing of the solder paste. The new machine has a 6 seconds cycle time for the 330 x 250 working size with a 12.5micron alignment accuracy.

CMK (Major PWB manufacturer in Japan)
Has developed a new flat surface printed circuit board with thick copper foils.

Niigata Seimitsu (Package manufacturer in Japan)
Had an R&D alliance with IBM Japan to develop a new PoP technology. (Package on Package)  They are planning the volume production by the end of the year.
 
Shinko Electric (Major packaging material supplier in Japan)
Expects minus growth for both revenue and income in 2005 because of the recent slow market demands.

Sharp (Major electronics company in Japan)
Introduced the wafer level CSP for the power supply IC of the camera modules and driver IC of LED for the application of the mobile products.

Toray (Major chemical company in Japan)
Has developed a new polyester film with a high discharging capability of static electricity introducing nano-level coating.

Matsushita Electric Works (Major laminate manufacturer)
Will invest 45 billion yens for the whole group in 2005.  One billion yens will be invested for the new manufacturing line of the adhesiveless flexible laminates.

Sharp (Major electronics company in Japan)
Has started the construction of the new building in Kameyama for the 8th generation LCD manufacturing lines. Sharp plans to start the operation in October 2006.

Okuno (Chemicals supplier for PWB process in Japan)
Commercialized a new low cost catalysis for the electroless plating process of the printed circuit boards instead of platinum.
 
Oki Electric (Major electronics company in Japan)
Completed the elimination of the chemicals of RoHS for the mechatronic products such as ATM machines.
 
NEC (Major electronics company in Japan)
Has introduced the world's smallest wafer level CSP for the new 8 bit micro-processor with flash EEPROM.  2 x 2.3 mm = 4.6 mm2.