Japan’s Tokuyama Corporation (TKYMF.PK) has decided to build a new factory in Sarawak, Malaysia, to manufacture polysilicon for the solar cell industry.
To date, Tokuyama has manufactured and sold polycrystalline silicon
mainly for semiconductors, and the Tokuyama Factory in Japan has been
the Company’s only manufacturing base.
Construction of the new factory is scheduled to commence early in 2011, and the start of operations is scheduled for spring 2013.
The factory will be the Siemens (NYSE: SI) method-based facilities with an annual production capacity of 6,000 tons.
The factory construction costs will be approximately ¥65 billion (US$677 million).
The Corporation is setting up a subsidiary, Tokuyama Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., in Sarawak in August of this year to manufacture and sell the polycrystalline silicon. Employees for the new company are to number about 300 people at the time of the start-up of operations, about 280 of whom will be hired locally, the company said.