Tokuyama Corp. plans to build a polycrystalline silicon manufacturing facility in Malaysia and expand capacity at its original factory in Japan. The chemical company awarded the front-end engineering design contract for the Malaysian plant to Japanese construction firm, Chiyoda Corp.
The basic design of the Malaysian factory, located on a 200-hectare site at the Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu, Sarawak, will be created in partnership with Chiyoda and should be completed by mid-2009, according to Tokuyama.
The plan calls for the Malaysian polysilicon manufacturing facilities–the company’s first outside Japan–to start operations in 2012 with an annual production capacity of about 3000 tons, after which the expansion of the production site will be considered, depending on demand trends in the semiconductor and solar cell sectors.
Tokuyama said it will increase the annual capacity of its original polysilicon factory in Shunan City, Yamaguchi, Japan from the current 5200 tons to 8200 tons in spring 2009.