New factory building for Hamamatsu Photonics to meet growing demand for opto-semiconductor devices
18/05/2023
Hamamatsu Photonics plans to construct a new factory at its Shingai factory site located in Hamamatsu City, Japan, to increase the overall production capacity in the post-processing (dicing, assembly and inspection) of its opto-semiconductor devices. Mainly used for semiconductor manufacturing, testing equipment and light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-related devices, it will support the expanding sales demands.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new factory building was held in March 2023, with the new factory building due to be completed in March 2025.
Hamamatsu Photonics has been supplying opto-semiconductor products for a broad range of fields, including medical, industrial and automotive applications. In recent years, demand for the image sensors used in semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment has continued to grow and, since photodiodes for the automotive LiDAR market is also expected to expand, the company anticipates a constant sales increase in the future.
Construction of the new factory building will expand production space for image sensors and photodiodes to meet an ever-increasing product demand. This new building will connect to the two existing factory buildings to integrate the clean rooms at the Shingai factory into one area. This will allow the company to streamline the movement of people and materials to improve production efficiency, as well as automate the manufacturing process and save labour through digital transformation.
The third Shingai factory building is designed to be highly resistant to natural disasters by integrating earthquake and flood countermeasures into its structure in conformance with Hamamatsu’s business continuity planning. Its proactive design features include eco-friendly measures such as heat-insulating structures and solar power generation systems.
Construction of this new factory building will complete a major capital investment at the Shingai factory site.
Since the demand for opto-semiconductors is widely expected to see future growth, the company plans to construct another factory building at its main factory site for wafer preprocessing within the next three years. Here, it expects to establish a new manufacturing process for 8"-diameter silicon wafers with a larger area than conventional 6"-diameter wafers. The aim is to double the sales of its opto-semiconductor business in ten years by expanding the post-processing capacity and further upgrading the production system through various business approaches, including this investment.
