TOKYO -- Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's top producer of silicon wafers, plans to launch a semiconductor manufacturing equipment business, as the Japanese company expands its core electronics material segment.
Shin-Etsu, which controls about 30% of the wafer market, is also the world's second-largest producer of photoresists and advanced photomask blanks used for forming circuit patterns, serving as a key player in the front-end process of semiconductor supply chains.
