Dec 3 2010
FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO: Shigetaka Komori) has acquired, through its semiconductor material manufacturing and marketing subsidiary FUJIFILM Electronic Materials U.S.A., Inc., 50% membership interests in dedicated CMP slurry manufacturer Planar Solutions, LLC (Headquartered in Michigan, U.S.; “Planar” hereinafter), held by Wacker Chemical Corporation (Headquartered in Munich, Germany; “Wacker” hereinafter).
Fujifilm had obtained 50% membership interests in Planar from Arch Chemicals, Inc. in November 2005, and has since been involved in Planar's management jointly with the other 50% membership interest holder Wacker. With the latest membership interest acquisition, Fujifilm has gained full control of Planar as of December 1, 2010, and re-launched it as FUJIFILM Planar Solutions, LLC for manufacturing and marketing CMP slurry for semiconductors.
Planar is a manufacturer of top-quality CMP slurry based on advanced technology, and provides goods and services to major semiconductor manufacturers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Fujifilm and Planar have thus far collaborated mainly in the areas of R&D and marketing. Fujifilm's latest move to acquire 100% membership interests in Planar will accelerate the integration of Fujifilm's advanced technology with Planar's strengths, i.e. advanced product development capability, cost competitiveness and quick response to customer needs. Fujifilm will tap into its strength of having numerous sales bases across the Asian region, the manufacturing hub of semiconductor devices, in addressing customer needs at a pace speedier than ever before.
Positioning highly functional materials as one of the priority business fields, Fujifilm is expanding the electronic materials business under the structure of globally supplying materials, devices and services used in semiconductor manufacturing, through the group company FUJIFILM Electronic Materials' operation bases in Asia, the United States and Belgium. Adding CMP Slurry to the product lineup is certain to further expand the electronic material business, making further contribution to the development and prosperity of the semiconductor devices industry.