Producer
DOWA Holdings (Japan gallium recycler)
DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo; TSE: 5714; ~¥700B revenue; formerly Dowa Mining Co.) is Japan's primary gallium producer — recovering gallium from compound semiconductor manufacturing scrap (GaAs, GaN, InGaP wafer cutting, polishing, and epi-layer waste) through specialized hydrometallurgical recycling. DOWA's gallium is secondary (recycled) rather than primary (from bauxite), making it a critical Western alternative to Chinese primary gallium production. DOWA's Akita Prefecture smelting/recycling complex handles precious metals (gold, silver) and specialty metals (gallium, indium, germanium) recovered from electronic scrap. DOWA supplies semiconductor-grade gallium to Japanese GaN device manufacturers (Sumitomo Electric, Mitsubishi Chemical) and exports to non-China GaN producers globally.
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Environmental Management (E-Scrap Recycling)
35%Smelting & Refining
30%Metal Products
20%Electronic Materials
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Did you know2024
DOWA Holdings is simultaneously Japan's largest electronic waste (e-scrap) recycler AND a critical supplier of semiconductor-grade gallium to the global GaN device industry. The same DOWA Akita smelter that processes printed circuit boards recovered from discarded smartphones and industrial electronics extracts the gallium from GaN/GaAs compound semiconductor manufacturing scrap (wafer saw street dust, polishing slurry, epitaxial layer waste) and purifies it to semiconductor grade. DOWA's gallium recovery positions it as one of the few reliable non-Chinese gallium suppliers globally — after China's 2023 export controls on gallium, DOWA's recycled Japanese gallium became more strategically valuable. A 140-year-old Japanese copper mining company running an e-waste recycling operation is simultaneously a geopolitically significant alternative to Chinese gallium supply for GaN 5G and power electronics manufacturers.
DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. ↗Origin2023
DOWA Holdings (formerly Dowa Mining Co.) was founded in 1884 to mine the Kosaka Mine in Akita Prefecture, Japan — a high-grade copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc polymetallic deposit in the mountains of northern Honshu. The Kosaka Mine operated for over 100 years until the ore body was effectively exhausted. As primary mining declined, Dowa transformed its Akita smelter complex into a "urban mining" operation — processing industrial and electronic scrap to recover the same metals (copper, gold, silver) that the Kosaka Mine had produced, plus emerging specialty metals (gallium, indium, germanium) from compound semiconductor manufacturing waste. The transformation from 19th-century primary miner to 21st-century e-waste recycler and specialty semiconductor metals supplier is one of Japan's most complete industrial pivot stories. DOWA's Akita operations now represent Japan's most important secondary source of gallium — critical for maintaining Japanese semiconductor supply chain independence from Chinese primary gallium.
DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. ↗