One of the outstanding developments at Ube Industries in recent years is polyimide, a super heat-resistant resin.
 Polyimide with a wide variety of applications is expanding its application into the aerospace industry. For example, "Upilex^®R", a polyimide film, has been employed as heat insulation material for satellites. In addition, newly developed polyimide foam and a new type polyimide have been attracting considerable attention from those involved in the aerospace industry.
 Another major challenge being tackled by UBE is to develop polyimide-based high-resolution flexible circuit boards. These include double-sided circuit boards tape for chip-on-film (COF) devices on which 40µ fine-pitch circuits are patterned. A number of such high-value-added products have already come into practical use, marking our successful entry into the circuit board business.
 Ube Industries is developing a gas-separation system using hollow polyimide fibers, with applications in hydrogen concentration for fuel production, alcohol dehydration, and oxygen enrichment.
 The utility of "U-Pore^®", a micro-porous membrane made of polyethylene and polypropylene, has been extended to the separators for lithium-ion secondary batteries.
 We have also developed electrolytes for lithium-ion secondary batteries that have been highly rated by the sector. Focusing on semiconductors, we are developing metal organics (MOs) whose high purity received favorable recognition for use of forming metal oxide thin films and semiconductor wiring.