The production launch for an ultra-high purity tantalum plant – to be deployed in large-scale manufacturing of integrated circuits – took place on Nov 8 at Tongchuang (Lishui) Special Materials Co Ltd, which is located in the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone.

The zone is situated in the city of Lishui in East China's Zhejiang province and tantalum is a rare and hard metal that is highly corrosion-resistant and is used in the electronics sector to make electrical circuits, capacitors and resistors.

The production launch ceremony for an ultra-high purity tantalum plant takes place in the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone on Nov 8. [Photo by Dai Xinlyu/for chinadaily.com.cn] 

The Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone has become the first electronics grade ultra-high purity tantalum materials industry base in China.

Tantalum metal is regarded an important strategic resource in China and an indispensable key material in very large-scale integrated manufacturing.

"The project has six world-leading electron beam furnaces, which are the largest in China and will have an annual output of 400 tons of ultra-high purity tantalum, with an annual output value of more than 5 billion yuan ($781.8 million), " said Yao Lijun, a major shareholder in Tongchuang Purun (Shanghai) Special Materials Co Ltd. 

"The production capacity of the ultra-high purity tantalum material will reach number one in the world," Yao added. 

Liu Zhiwei, director of the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone administrative committee, was bullish about the new plant's future contribution to the zone's wider development. 

"We are confident that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the output value of the semiconductor industry in the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone will reach 30 billion yuan and will become one of the core production areas of the semiconductor industry in China," Liu said.