Hitachi Cable Increases Production Capacity of Copper Alloy Strip by 30%

Hitachi Cable, Ltd. announced on Thursday that it would increase the production capacity of copper alloy strip by 30%. The firm will renew and increase production equipment of its Tsuchiura Plant, Ibaraki Prefecture of Eastern Japan. Hitachi aims at starting the operation in October to increase production of high-strength copper alloy strip whose demand for IC (integrated circuits) lead frame, etc. is increasing. Further, Hitachi will reinforce production of the copper alloy strip for the connector for car, etc. Hitachi will renew 1 continuous annealing furnace and increase 2 bell-shaped annealing furnaces. Throughout this renewal and increase, the monthly production capacity of copper alloy strip would increase to 1,600 tonnes from 1,200 tonnes; that of the whole copper strip including deformed strip and rolled copper foil would also increase 5,000 tonnes from 4,600 tonnes. As for Hitachi’s copper alloy strip production, the monthly high-strength copper alloy strip production doubled to 800 tonnes. On the other hand, high-conductive copper alloy strip production keep 800 tonnes. High-conductive copper alloy strip is used mainly for the lead frame for discrete semiconductor. Meanwhile, high-strength copper alloy strip is used for the thin-walled, miniaturized, and multi lead pin products. Demand of high-conductive copper alloy strip is stable, but it is unlikely that there will be sharp increase of the demand in the future. On the other hand, the high-strength copper alloy strip market is likely to be expanded in future.