Innovating Materials for Electronics, Mobility and Safety: How Nippon Carbide Industries Is Strengthening Global Competitiveness

How do you define “monozukuri” (craftsmanship/manufacturing) in the context of Nippon Carbide’s current business?

For our company, monozukuri is not merely the act of manufacturing, but an endeavor to create value for society through the development of products and services, thereby contributing to the building of a more prosperous society.

Nippon Carbide Industries was founded in 1935 to produce benzol from acetylene derived from carbide. We sought to contribute to a more prosperous society by creating a wide range of daily essentials from carbide, which was made from limestone and coal and produced in electric furnaces that generate hydroelectric power using the abundant water resources of our founding location in Toyama Prefecture.

The founding aspiration stated in our corporate philosophy—“contributing to the welfare of mankind through ultimate research in the carbide industry—has been carried forward into our current Group Mission: “Creating new value with our technological capability, we help make society more prosperous.”

Japanese companies are highly regarded worldwide for their values and the reliability of their products. At the same time, Japan’s manufacturing industry as a whole appears to be at a turning point. How do you perceive this situation, and how is your company responding to it?

To achieve sustainable growth and contribute to society, our company is focused on creating unique value under the concept of “Outstanding values = One & Only.”
 Rather than mass-producing commoditized products, we pursue high value-added products that only our group can provide. This approach allows us to avoid being drawn into price competition and to establish a distinctive market position.

However, even with our “Outstanding values = One & Only” products, there is always the possibility that competitors may eventually introduce similar, lower-priced products to the market. When that happens, we see the value of the Japan brand as our next key advantage — specifically, the trust in Japanese quality (safety, security, and trust), and trust in our business itself. Competing through the value of the Japan brand is an important part of our strategy.

Our group operates 12 manufacturing and sales bases in 10 countries — including the United States, the Netherlands, France, Spain, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Brazil — and one of our key strengths lies in the strong, long-standing relationships of trust we have built with leading local distributors. By fully leveraging this global network and supply chain, accurately identifying the true KBFs (Key Buying Factors) in each market, and delivering our distinctive “One & Only” products, we continue to enhance our competitiveness.

What strategies is Nippon Carbide adopting to address the ongoing advancements in the semiconductor and electronic components sectors?

In the field of Functional chemicals, we are promoting the development of (1) “azole compounds” that improve the chemical adhesion between copper wiring and insulating resins to address the challenge of reducing transmission loss in high-speed communications, and (2) “resist crosslinking agents” and “vinyl ethers” (blocking agents for positive photoresists that temporarily protect functional groups) as photoresist additives, which enable highly precise circuit formation for copper wiring and contribute to improved reliability.

In the field of Electric Materials, we are offering high-performance ceramic substrates for miniature chip resistors to customers in the Asian market in line with the trend toward higher performance and miniaturization of electronic components, and high-quality ceramic substrates for automotive electronic components, which require high reliability, to customers in the domestic Japanese market.

Our Nikalet ECR (Semiconductor Mold Cleaner ), which already holds a high market share among manufacturers in Asia (including Japan), has also been highly evaluated in the Chinese market—where demand for semiconductor packaging is rapidly increasing—thanks to its stable cleaning performance, and we are actively expanding its presence there.

In the field of Functional Polymers, production bases for optical-related products (such as polarizing plates for display devices) have shifted from Japan to South Korea and then to China in line with expanding demand. To respond to the growing demand for adhesives for optical-related fields in China, we have been actively strengthening our activities there since 2020, enhancing both R&D and sales functions for Functional Polymers at our Chinese base. Our company has long-standing product development expertise and an extensive track record in adhesives for polarizing plate protective films in the Japanese market, and we are fully capable of leveraging this expertise to meet demand in the Chinese market as well.

Functional chemicals

ECR (Semiconductor Mold Cleaner)

How is Nippon Carbide responding to the growing demand for materials in the medical field amid Japan’s aging society?

In the medical and biochemical fields, our chemicals and polymers are positioned upstream in the value chain, with our customers being manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and diagnostic reagents. We primarily produce active pharmaceutical ingredients as raw materials and supply them to pharmaceutical companies in Japan and overseas.

Regarding future material needs in the medical field, we are actively gathering information by leveraging our existing commercial networks.

In addition, in the Chinese market—which is expected to see significant growth—we are working to expand our business for our binder resins in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors.

In medical applications such as diagnostic devices and wearable devices, what unique value do your products provide?

While we position electronics as a strategic market, we are not specifically focused on medical devices such as diagnostic equipment or wearable devices.

Rather, our products provide materials used in semiconductor manufacturing processes (both front-end and back-end), as well as in the production of display devices, electronic substrates, electronic components and others. In doing so, we play an important role in indirectly supporting the digital transformation, advanced functionality, and higher performance of medical devices.

Examples of such products include crosslinkers and additives used in the photolithography and packaging processes of semiconductors, ceramic substrates for miniature chip resistors, and Semiconductor Mold Cleaner used in semiconductor packaging encapsulation processes.

In addition, we also handle labels for medical devices as products used in the medical field. Unlike conventional laser markable labels, which can generate dust particles that may adhere to the label during laser engraving, our internally color-developing labels eliminate this issue by producing markings through discoloration inside the labels.

In medical settings, dust and other foreign substances can have adverse effects on treatment. Our products provide the unique value of solving this problem, thereby helping ensure health and safety.

In your Medium-term Management Plan “NCI KIRARI 2025,” how are investments in the semiconductor and medical fields prioritized?

In the field of Functional chemicals, we are considering investments to further enhance our synthesis and purification technologies for products used in the semiconductor and electronic materials sectors.

These investments are positioned as priority investments within our Medium-term Management Plan “NCI KIRARI 2025,” as they target fields with high growth potential and high added value.

Retroreflective sheetings and optical materials are fields where reliability is particularly critical. With the increasing number of competing manufacturers in countries such as China, how does your company maintain its competitive advantage?

Retroreflective sheetings for road signs and license plates are used to ensure safety, and therefore product reliability—meaning the ability to maintain performance over long periods—is essential.

In recent years, competitors from China and other countries have entered this field, but we regard reliability itself as our source of competitiveness and have concentrated our technological expertise and quality control efforts on this area.

In particular, our prism-type Retroreflective sheetings feature structures designed using highly precise optical simulation technology, enabling them to efficiently reflect incident light and ensure high visibility even at night.

They also offer excellent weather resistance, withstanding ultraviolet light, wind, rain and others, and are valued for their ability to resist fading or performance degradation even after long-term use. Going forward, we will continue to leverage our technological capabilities and commitment to quality to maintain our competitive edge in this highly competitive market.

Retroreflective sheetings for license plates

With the advancement of autonomous driving, ADAS, and smart mobility, the importance of advanced reflective technologies is increasing. What technological innovations have you implemented in your prism-type Retroreflective sheetings, and what performance improvements have these innovations achieved?

Currently, prism-type Retroreflective sheetings are mainly used for road signs in Japan, and the higher the grade, the stricter the requirements become for brightness, reflection angle, and other performance standards. High-level grades are particularly difficult to manufacture and represent a major challenge for all manufacturers.

Highly precise mold processing technology is essential for production. Our company has strong expertise in this area, and by combining it with advanced design capabilities using optical simulation, we have achieved highly sophisticated light control.

However, design alone is not sufficient. The Retroreflective sheetings must be formed into films, laminated onto substrates, and able to withstand long-term exposure to outdoor environments. They are required to maintain their performance while resisting ultraviolet rays, wind, rain, and mechanical stress. True competitiveness comes from achieving both optical performance and durability.

In fact, when comparing Retroreflective sheetings from different companies, there are noticeable differences in the prism shapes, and our products can be immediately distinguished even when placed alongside those of other manufacturers.

Are there any specific fields that you plan to prioritize as key growth drivers going forward?

In its Medium-term Management Plan “NCI KIRARI 2025,” which runs through fiscal year 2025, the Group has positioned Electronics and Safety as focus areas.

Within Electronics, one of our focus areas , we have designated Semiconductors and Electronic devices as our strategic market fields, while in the Safety are, we have identified Environment, Life, and Mobility as our strategic market fields. We are prioritizing the allocation of management resources to each of these areas.

Among the products we are developing in these fields by leveraging our technological strengths, we have positioned those that embody our concept of “Outstanding values= One & Only” as the key growth drivers for the future.

Your company has already been expanding internationally in regions such as Southeast Asia and China. Looking ahead, will your global strategy focus on any specific markets or products?

Our global strategy is determined not by region but by product category.

For example, in the semiconductor field, Japanese materials and equipment manufacturers hold strong positions. Therefore, we focus our strategy on partnering with Japanese companies and expanding into global markets through them. In this sense, it could effectively be said that for this field, “Japan is our market.”

In contrast, our Stickers and 3D emblems business grew alongside the overseas expansion of the motorcycle industry. We established factories in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. to supply Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.

Today, we are leveraging this foundation to expand 3D emblem and license plate-related products in the automotive market as well.

In the United States and in Europe—where we have sales companies in the Netherlands, France, and Spain— we are actively expanding our sales of Retroreflective sheetings as well as 3D emblems and high function films to automotive manufacturers.

China is both a massive market and a global production hub for the LCD display field. Our polarizing plate resin business is also handled primarily through our base in China. At the same time, China is becoming increasingly important in the semiconductor field, and we are actively expanding our mold cleaner business there by utilizing our Chinese base.

In this way, we adopt different strategies for each product category—sometimes using Japan as the primary base, and at other times Southeast Asia or China. This kind of flexible adaptation forms the foundation of our global strategy.

Stickers

3D emblems

How is your R&D organization structured to drive the development of next-generation materials?

Our R&D divisions were previously located at four sites across Japan, each established according to the characteristics of our respective businesses. However, to create new value and develop “One & Only” products by integrating and combining the elemental technologies cultivated in each product area, we consolidated our R&D functions in Toyama Prefecture in January 2017.

The new R&D Center was designed as an open space without walls between offices, creating a clear line of sight and an environment that encourages communication among researchers.

Our R&D organization consists of three main groups: the Functional Materials Group, which conducts research on Electronics and Functional Products; the Films and Sheetings Group, which develops Films and Sheetings Products; and the Research Administration Group, which oversees the entire R&D organization. Under this structure, we eliminate barriers between groups by holding regular reporting sessions and collaborative research activities to share information on elemental technologies developed in different fields, aiming to create “One & Only” products that only our company can deliver.

Furthermore, to generate new research themes that could lead to future “One & Only” products, we also conduct exploratory research activities carried out by cross-functional teams composed of members from different groups, expecting the fusion of technologies and fresh ideas from younger engineers.

R&D Center

What role do partnerships and joint development play in your product innovation efforts?

When initiating new efforts such as the development of new products or performance evaluation technologies, we always consider the possibility of technological collaboration with universities and other companies, including our customers.

At present, we are engaged in multiple development projects in collaboration with universities and corporate partners. We believe that such initiatives help enhance our technological capabilities and shorten the time required to bring products to market.

In addition, when expanding overseas, it is essential to understand local regulations and market characteristics. Therefore, we actively pursue joint development and collaboration with local customers as needed.

How is Nippon Carbide adapting its product development to address increasingly stringent environmental regulations and the sustainability goals of its customers?

As part of our Medium-term Management Plan, we have set our basic R&D policy as “providing solutions to help realize a sustainable society,” and we are promoting product development that incorporates both social needs and customer requirements in line with this policy.

In the electronics field, for functional materials used in Semiconductors and Electronic devices—such as semiconductor encapsulants, semiconductor packages, photoresists, and RDL (redistribution layers)—there is growing demand for improved chemical adhesion to reduce transmission loss in high-speed communications, as well as for enhanced reliability in terms of high-precision circuit formation, heat resistance and others. In response to these demands, we are working on further improving the performance of additives such as “azole compounds”, “vinyl ethers”, and “resist crosslinking agents”. We believe that these new products will contribute to achieving the SDGs and building a more prosperous society.

In the mobility field, we are developing Films and Sheetings Products that replace painting and plating, which have a large environmental impact, and offer decorative properties, functionality, and processability—features that were previously unattainable with conventional method such as coating and plating.

Furthermore, to contribute to a circular economy, we are developing film, sheetings, and adhesive products using biomass-derived raw materials. For Films and Sheetings Products, we have created an inkjet-printable advertising film that has obtained Biomass 10 certification. For adhesive products, we are offering products such as removable adhesives that can be applied and peeled off repeatedly.

We have also developed melamine compounds using discarded eggshells as a filler material, which we provide to our customers. Tableware made from these compounds has obtained Biomass 55 certification and has been highly evaluated in the market.

Traditionally, solvent-based adhesives using organic solvents have been used for bonding Films and Sheetings Products because of their water resistance and other performance characteristics. However, we are now developing water-based (emulsion-type) adhesives that use water as the solvent and have a lower environmental impact. These are being introduced to many customers for use in decorative films for automobile interiors and exteriors as well as for advertising signage films.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of your company’s founding. Looking ahead to your 100th anniversary in 2035, what kind of corporate image do you aspire to achieve by then?

Strictly speaking, next year, 2026, will mark the 90th anniversary since we began our business operations. By 2035, I will likely no longer be serving as president, but I hope that by then our company will have grown into a trusted global corporate group that continues to create value.

Unfortunately, over the past decade, our sales have remained flat, and we have not yet achieved sustainable growth. Therefore, our most important challenge looking toward 2035 is to transform into a company that can steadily increase both sales and profits every year—a company capable of achieving sustainable growth. To accomplish this, we must continue to create new products and open up new business fields.

By the time we reach our 100th anniversary, our goal is to be recognized as a company that embodies both innovation and sustainable growth.

For more information, visit their website at: https://www.carbide.co.jp/en/

To read more about Nippon Carbide, check out this article about them.