Japan’s Sumitomo Bakelite will expand production capacity for advanced semiconductor encapsulation materials for chip production at its plants in Suzhou, China, and Singapore, installing new production lines at both sites.

In a statement last Friday, Sumitomo Bakelite said the new lines will make the company’s SUMIKON EME mold underfill materials. The products can fill gaps and seal a chip package in a single molding step to encase chips.

The company clarified the move can serve the rising demand for advanced chips used in generative AI and communications satellites, particularly in China and Southeast Asia.

At the Suzhou site, Sumitomo Bakelite will expand a plant completed in 2024, with production from the new lines set to start in fiscal year 2030.

In Singapore, new lines will go into the existing plant, with output due to begin at the end of fiscal year 2028 (around March 2029).

Once the lines are running, the company expects its capacity for the underfill materials to roughly double and its capacity for compression-molding granules to roughly triple from current levels, according to its own estimates.

Separately, Sumitomo Bakelite said it planned to complete the purchase of Kyocera Corporation’s chemical business at the end of October, adding Kyocera’s capacity in the same two product lines. The two Japanese companies agreed that deal in January 2026 for about JPY30 billion ($190 million),. Sumitomo Bakelite said the combined steps would strengthen its supply of encapsulation materials in Japan, China and Southeast Asia.

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