Ube Industries, Ltd. (President: Kazumasa Tsunemi) has become ready for entering into the COF (Chip On Film) substrate business,having completed construction of a semi-commercial production facility at its Chiba Petrochemical Factory. This is a part of the development of next-generation projects listed in the company's medium term business plan.
COF substrates are made of polyimide and copper leaf, and they are used for the IC surface mounting in FPD (Flat Panel Displays), such as LCD,PDP and organic EL, and semiconductor packaging. With the current trend of downsizing in electronic parts, brought by the broadband communication with high speed and large capacity, demand is growing for fine pitch COF substrates for the use in multi-chip modules and high-density packaging for FPD.
Ube Industries positions the specialty products business as one of its core businesses and the materials using polyimide are leading products in this sector. The company has strengthened and expanded its polyimide related business with the commercialization of dual-layer CCL (Copper-Clad Laminates) as materials for FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits), while maintaining predominant market share for TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) film. At the same time, in the downstream field of circuit boards, Ube Industries has been developing leading-edge products such as double sided and/or multi-layer flexible circuit boards. Now that demand for such products has strengthened, the company has decided to commercialize these products and has constructed the production facility. By expanding business into downstream sectors, management believes to achieve improvements in the quality of base films and other materials and to contribute to the customers by providing total solutions.
With this new facility completed at the end of August, Ube Industries plans to manufacture mainly high-end, double-sided, and fine pitch substrates and to develop markets and uses for these products. The company expects the sales of 1.5 to 2 billion yen for fiscal 2005.
