(Yicai Global) Aug. 17 -- Shanghai Sinyang Semiconductor Materials will raise CNY1.5 billion (USD216 million) from qualified institutional investors to produce high-end photoresist products for integrated circuits and ultra-high-purity chemical materials.

The firm will apply CNY732 million (USD105.3 million) of the proceeds to develop and industrialize high-end photoresist products for integrated circuits, CNY348 million to hike its capacity to produce semi-conductor related ultra-high-purity chemical materials, and CNY420 million to supplement its working capital, the company announced over the weekend.

Sinyang Semiconductor’s stock [SHE:300236] rose 3.85 percent to close at CNY63.61 (USD9.16) at lunch today.

The firm’s Shanghai base will produce the photoresist products, consisting of ArF and KrF photoresist products, per the announcement. KrF thick-film photoresist products are likely to be sold in small numbers next year and mass produced in 2022. ArF dry process photoresist products are expected to sell in small lots in 2022 and be mass produced in 2023, but the announcement omitted details.

Photoresist is a key raw material for making chips. Almost all major technologies and patents of high-end photoresists represented by ArF and KrF products are in the hands of Japanese and US companies and research agencies, and China has to import all ArF photoresist products it uses to make high-end semiconductor chips, of which more than 90 percent are made in Japan, per the announcement.

The firm will also use the money to build its second factory in East China’s Hefei for CNY350 million. This plant, whose construction period is two years, will add 17,000 tons of ultra-high-purity chemical material capacity.

Editor: Ben Armour