Recently, the global specialty materials group Denka (Nippon Denka) published a special feature in the Autumn 2026 issue of The Denka Way, titled "Denka's Future as Seen from the Frontlines of Its China Business." In the journal, Denka explicitly states that mainland China and Taiwan are both world-class manufacturing bases and clusters of cutting-edge industries such as semiconductors and electronic materials. The cover, titled "Gateway to the World Market," emphasizes the strategic position of this market.
The feature includes both segment market data and frontline employees' firsthand impressions. The section on the challenges and responses in cutting-edge industry markets such as semiconductors and electronic materials offers insights for China's materials industry, including spherical silica powder, alumina, heat-dissipation substrates for power modules (aluminum nitride, silicon nitride), ceramic matrix composites, high-end conductive carbon black, and packaging bonding adhesives. A brief summary follows.
I. Company Overview
Denka was founded in 1915. Over its development, this century-old company's business portfolio has expanded broadly into life sciences, elastomers, polymers, and other fields, making it a diversified leading global specialty materials group. However, its "Electronics & Innovation" segment occupies a particularly core position. The data speak for themselves: the group's consolidated revenue for fiscal 2025 was ¥384.2 billion, down ¥16 billion year on year, while the Electronics & Innovation segment alone generated revenue of ¥104.4 billion, up ¥12.2 billion year on year. The best-known products of this segment-the group's only profitable segment in fiscal 2025-include spherical fused silica for semiconductor packaging, spherical alumina for thermal management, high-thermal-conductivity ceramic substrates, acetylene black for conductive applications, and silicon nitride (aluminum nitride) substrates and precision ceramic components for power and electronics. There are also low-dielectric organic resins that overlap in application areas but are less familiar. By expanding from traditional electronic fillers to organic resins, Denka builds AI server and high-speed communications solutions in the form of product portfolios, which facilitates customer certification while also creating higher barriers.
II. Feature Overview
Against the backdrop of intensifying Sino-Japanese industrial competition and accelerating domestic substitution in China, the core tone of the feature is to view changes in the Chinese market as opportunities and to advance business expansion and competitiveness enhancement. This reflects Denka's deep dependence on and strategic judgment of China's high-end materials market. Even in the face of the strong impact of China's domestic substitution wave, it still chooses to "increase its bet against the tide" rather than contract. Its specific response strategy is to migrate to higher-end, harder-to-substitute material levels, such as upgrading from general-purpose fillers to low-alpha ultrafine spherical silica, from copper heat-dissipation plates to Al/SiC composites, and from general-purpose resins to low-dielectric high-frequency specialty resins.
III. Brief Introduction to "Electronics & Innovation" Products and Applications
Denka's spherical alumina fillers are divided into three major series: ASFP grade (ultrafine), DAW grade (low sodium), and standard grade. They are used respectively in multilayer memory packaging including high-speed memory GDDR7 and HBM, thermal interface materials, and electronic packaging. Standard grades have a particle size D50 of 4.7–97 μm, ultrafine grades have a D50 of 0.3–0.9 μm, and low-sodium grades emphasize extremely low Na+ content, generally <10 ppm.
Denka knows that high thermal conductivity cannot be achieved simply by adding more powder; particle size distribution and resin formulation determine the effectiveness of contact between filler particles and the formation of heat transfer paths. The exclusive supply capability of ASFP-grade ultrafine products is Denka's strongest technical moat.
02 SNECTON (Low-Dielectric Macromonomer Resin)
This is a hydrocarbon-based low-dielectric resin developed by Denka using coordination polymerization technology. It has excellent low-dielectric performance and crosslinkability (Dk: 2.2–2.3, Df: below 0.0007) and good compatibility with rigid materials such as modified PPE, BMI, and hydrocarbons. Used in copper clad laminates (CCL), interlayer insulating materials, adhesive films, laminated films, and resin-coated copper (RCC), it can reduce dielectric loss in the insulating layers of AI servers and high-speed communications circuits.
03 Spherical Silica Powder (Low Dielectric Loss)
Electronic-grade spherical silica powder can control thermal expansion and support dimensional stability while achieving high filler loading while maintaining resin flowability. General models will not be repeated here, and the feature does not discuss or disclose specific high-grade products in detail. However, it is well known that ultrafine spherical silica with average particle sizes of 0.7 μm, 0.3 μm, and 100 nm, as well as low-alpha-grade spherical silica products for HBM, demonstrate Denka's powder technology strength.
04 Ceramic and Metal Matrix Composite Substrates
For aluminum nitride substrates, Denka lists standard and high-thermal-conductivity grades of 150 and 180 W/mK, respectively. For silicon nitride substrates, it emphasizes thermal conductivity, bending strength, fracture toughness, and durable, highly reliable applications under rapid temperature changes.
ALSINK deserves special mention. This composite substrate based on aluminum, silicon carbide, and ceramic has a coefficient of thermal expansion similar to alumina and thermal conductivity comparable to aluminum nitride. The aluminum alloy surface layer can improve manufacturing and electroplating processes. It is an excellent material combining low thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity, high strength, and light weight, and can be used for power module baseplates, semiconductor package lids, heat sinks, and components for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. However, this composite substrate must balance thermal conductivity, expansion, and manufacturability. Denka is working to double ALSINK capacity. Its main manufacturing challenges include controlling ceramic distribution, achieving uniform thermal performance, maintaining dimensional accuracy, ensuring reliable surface treatment, and producing parts with consistent mechanical properties.
05 DENKA BLACK (Acetylene Black)
Denka manufactures conductive carbon black through the thermal decomposition of acetylene. It is used in batteries, cables, conductive components, and other applications that leverage its high electrical and thermal conductivity. High-voltage cables are an important demand area, and it is also listed as one of the materials related to electrification, infrastructure, and next-generation industries.
06 Others
ELEGRIP protects and handles components as they move during manufacturing, for example, firmly fixing wafers to equipment during wafer dicing. TBM is designed for temporary fixation in semiconductor manufacturing, protecting the circuit pattern on the front side during wafer back grinding (thinning). The core value of these two functional tapes is that, through excellent adhesion, stability, and easy peelability, they help chipmakers reduce breakage, contamination, warpage, and other problems in the two critical thinning and singulation steps of grinding and dicing, thereby ensuring final chip reliability and production efficiency. The feature also mentions HARDLOC, a widely used acrylic adhesive; detailed grade-specific specifications are not disclosed, and it is being evaluated for drone components, camera lens applications, and medical uses.
Summary
Denka's "Electronics & Innovation" business is increasingly focused on high-speed communications and AI, and advanced semiconductor packaging. In the feature, Denka candidly acknowledges that Chinese local manufacturers are continuously improving their technology, while the domestic substitution strategy continues to advance. Scale and price alone will no longer be enough to compete with Chinese companies; Denka must continue to develop differentiated specialty materials. At the same time, it must combine its own capabilities to maintain its unique advantages in electronic materials. From the feature, it is easy to summarize its advantages as including proprietary material technologies (such as spherical silica powder) and complementary combinations (organic low-dielectric resins and inorganic fillers).