Japanese company Toppan has officially taken over a former JOLED factory in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture that was previously used to manufacture displays for Apple iPhones. Toppan plans to retool the plant to produce flip chip-ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrates for semiconductor packaging and house a product development center.
JOLED filed for bankruptcy protection in March after struggling to compete with South Korean and Chinese OLED display makers. The company has ended production at the Nomi factory as well as another plant in Chiba Prefecture. Toppan aims to begin FC-BGA substrate production at the Nomi facility in 2027 or later. Some existing equipment at the plant can be repurposed for this goal. The move aligns with Toppan’s plan to quadruple its capacity for FC-BGA substrates from fiscal 2022 levels.
The purchase price and planned capital investment for upgrading the facility were not disclosed. Toppan has said it intends to invest around 60 billion yen ($407 million) over three years through fiscal 2025 to raise capacity for electronic products including semiconductor substrates.
Demand is rising for chips used in data centers and artificial intelligence applications, making FC-BGA substrates a growth priority for Toppan. The company currently ranks number nine globally in FC-BGA production capacity.
