Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical to expand LCP capacity at Ehime

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Sumitomo Chemical is building additional production lines for its liquid crystal polymer (LCP) super engineering plastic at the company’s site in Ehime, the Japanese producer said on Tuesday.

This expansion will increase the group’s production capacity of LCP by around 30%, it said in a statement.

The new production lines are scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2023.

LCP has been used for a broad range of applications, including electronic components for PCs and smartphones.

“Demand for LCP is continuing to grow strongly as the rollout of 5G data communications systems is progressing at scale, while electric vehicles are becoming more popular on the back of accelerated efforts to mitigate environmental impact,” the company said.

Investment and capacity details of the new production lines were not disclosed.