Resonac, BEAM and Nippon LEO signed an MOU to manufacture compound semiconductors in low Earth orbit. Why build chips in microgravity, and how Japan's bet compares to the US and China.
Japan's Resonac (formerly Showa Denko) will switch its Kawasaki ammonia plant to 100% waste-plastic-derived hydrogen by April 2030, ending its reliance on natural gas reforming. The world's only long-running commercial gasification chemical recycling plant processes 70,000 tons of plastic waste annually to produce 120,000 tons of ammonia, with 80%+ CO2 reduction. Now backed by Japan's first CCfD-style price-gap subsidy. A circular alternative to urban mining.
Resonac, the world's top supplier of back-end semiconductor materials, has fully launched US-JOINT, a 12-company Japan-US consortium R&D center in Union City, California. The goal: cut proof-of-concept cycles from six months to one, and plug directly into the custom AI chip development of GAFAM-class hyperscalers.