On January 1, 2023, Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) and Showa Denko Materials (SDMC, former Hitachi Chemical Company, Ltd.) merged and transformed themselves into two new companies, namely a holding company named ‘Resonac Holdings Corporation, and a manufacturing company named ‘Resonac Corporation (Resonac).

Hidehito Takahashi continues leading both companies as President and CEO. The Resonac Group has defined its purpose as “Change society through the power of chemistry,” aiming to become a leading functional chemical manufacturer in the world. The Group will reform its business portfolio and start to tackle the new challenges. Hidehito Takahashi, President and CEO of Resonac, made a new year address to declare the launch of the new Resonac Group. “The birth of Resonac is its second foundation. We will reform the Group by raising talent who can take positive actions autonomously and creatively,” he told the whole staff of the Group.

Resonac’s annual sales of semiconductor and electronic materials amount to about 400 billion yen, while the Group’s annual net sales amount to about 1.4 trillion yen. Resonac is the global top manufacturer of semiconductor materials having overwhelming share of the market for materials used in downstream of semiconductor production process, which has been attracting people’s attention.

As a result of the integration of former SDK and former SDMC, we now have a combination of former SDK’s stable-earnings businesses including petrochemicals, graphite electrodes, and basic chemicals businesses, and former SDMC’s semiconductor and electronic materials business, which is a growth driver. Following the announcement of the decision to integrate former SDK, which has strength in production of midstream materials, and former SDMC, which has strength in production of downstream materials, the two companies started to work collaboratively, and produced excellent results in R&D and production processes of various products including CMP slurries and copper-clad laminates.

To contribute to sustainable development of society through solution of technical problems as a chemical company, it is very important for Resonac to promote collaboration and cooperation with other companies and other industries. The Resonac Group aims to be a “Co-creative Chemical Company” that creates value through co-creation.