Producer
Central Glass
Japanese specialty chemicals manufacturer; third-largest NF₃ producer globally. Revenue ~¥200B (2024). Produces NF₃, WF₆, and fluorinated compounds at Ube, Yamaguchi and international plants. ~12% NF₃ global share. Also a major glass manufacturer (flat glass, optical glass). Central Glass is uniquely positioned as both a glass and specialty gas manufacturer — its HF (hydrofluoric acid) feedstock operations feed both divisions.
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1 input Central Glass supplies
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Semiconductor Specialty Gases
40%Flat Glass & Architectural
40%Specialty Chemicals
20%
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Did you know2023
NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), produced by Central Glass and two other companies globally, is used to clean CVD and PVD chambers in semiconductor fabs -- it etches away deposited film residue between wafer runs. It is also used extensively for cleaning the chambers in solar panel manufacturing (PECVD deposition of silicon nitride anti-reflective coatings). The same NF3 that helps manufacture the chips inside iPhones also cleans the equipment that makes solar panels designed to reduce fossil fuel consumption. NF3 is also a greenhouse gas with approximately 17,000 times the global warming potential of CO2. The IPCC and EPA track NF3 emissions from semiconductor and solar manufacturing as a climate concern -- meaning the chemicals used to make clean energy technology are themselves contributors to the climate problem the technology is designed to solve. Central Glass is one of three companies supplying both industries simultaneously through this paradoxical chemistry.
Central Glass Co. Ltd. ↗Origin2023
Central Glass was founded in 1936 in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture as a flat glass manufacturer. Ube was chosen because of nearby limestone deposits (for glass raw materials) and the industrial infrastructure of an existing chemicals and coal chemicals complex. The specialty gas business grew from Central Glass's HF (hydrofluoric acid) production capability -- HF is a key intermediate for both glass treatment (etching and coating) and fluorine chemistry (making fluorinated gases). As semiconductor manufacturing scaled in Japan in the 1970s-80s and demanded NF3 for chamber cleaning and WF6 for tungsten deposition, Central Glass was positioned to serve both industries from the same HF feedstock. The company that makes windows for Japanese buildings is also a critical input supplier for the semiconductor fabs that Japan built to manufacture the chips inside the devices used in those buildings.
Central Glass Co. Ltd. ↗