Asahi Kasei strengthens its leadership in semiconductor materials with TSMC’s 2025 Excellent Performance Award
Asahi Kasei has been honored with a 2025 TSMC Excellent Performance Award in the category of “Excellent Technology Development and Production Support” for Advanced Packaging materials, underscoring the company’s growing influence in the global semiconductor supply chain. The recognition was presented during the 2025 Supply Chain Management Forum hosted by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) on November 25, 2025, an annual event that brings together key partners and suppliers contributing to the rapid advancement of semiconductor technologies.
Recognition of Excellence in Advanced Packaging Innovation
The TSMC Excellent Performance Award is one of the most respected accolades within the semiconductor industry’s supply ecosystem. It recognizes suppliers that demonstrate exceptional achievements in technology development, manufacturing excellence, and reliable production support over the past year. Asahi Kasei’s selection for this award reflects not only its technical capabilities but also its ability to deliver consistent, high-quality materials that meet the increasingly complex requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
In particular, the award highlights Asahi Kasei’s contributions to Advanced Packaging materials, a critical segment of semiconductor production that enables higher performance, improved power efficiency, and greater functionality in modern chips. As semiconductor architectures continue to evolve beyond traditional scaling, advanced packaging has emerged as a key enabler for next-generation devices, especially those used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and data-intensive applications.
PIMEL™: A Core Technology Driving Recognition
Central to Asahi Kasei’s recognition is its PIMEL™ photosensitive dielectric material, which has become a cornerstone technology in advanced semiconductor packaging. PIMEL™ is designed to deliver high reliability, excellent patterning performance, and strong compatibility with sophisticated manufacturing processes. These attributes make it particularly well suited for advanced packaging structures such as fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP), redistribution layers (RDL), and other cutting-edge configurations required for modern semiconductor devices.
By continuously refining PIMEL™ to meet evolving customer needs, Asahi Kasei has demonstrated its commitment to innovation and close collaboration with semiconductor manufacturers. The company’s ability to align material performance with production requirements has been a decisive factor in its strong partnership with TSMC and other leading industry players.
Supporting the Rapid Evolution of Semiconductor Manufacturing
Advanced packaging has become increasingly important as the semiconductor industry addresses the limitations of traditional Moore’s Law scaling. Rather than relying solely on transistor miniaturization, chipmakers are now turning to advanced packaging technologies to integrate multiple chips, enhance performance, and reduce power consumption. These approaches are particularly vital for AI accelerators, data center processors, and next-generation consumer electronics.
Asahi Kasei’s materials play a critical role in enabling these technologies. The company’s focus on both technology development and production support—the two pillars emphasized by the award—reflects its holistic approach to serving the semiconductor industry. Beyond developing high-performance materials, Asahi Kasei has invested heavily in ensuring stable supply, manufacturing reliability, and responsive customer support, all of which are essential for large-scale semiconductor production.
Strategic Importance of Electronics Materials in Asahi Kasei’s Vision
Nobuko Uetake, Senior Executive Officer of Asahi Kasei and a key leader in the company’s electronics materials business, emphasized the strategic importance of this achievement within the broader corporate vision. She noted that the electronics materials segment, including PIMEL™, is positioned as a “First Priority” business under Asahi Kasei’s “Trailblaze Together” medium-term management plan for fiscal years 2025–2027.
“Our electronics business, including PIMEL™, is positioned as First Priority in Asahi Kasei’s ‘Trailblaze Together’ medium-term management plan,” Uetake said. “We have developed PIMEL™ products that meet diverse customer requirements by leveraging years of advanced technological expertise, and we are making proactive investments to ensure stable supply, including the launch of a new plant. We look forward to continuing to support the rapidly evolving field of advanced semiconductors, especially for AI-related applications.”
Her remarks underline Asahi Kasei’s long-term commitment to the semiconductor sector and its intention to remain a key contributor as the industry enters a new era of technological complexity.
Investments to Ensure Stability and Scalability
One of the distinguishing factors behind Asahi Kasei’s recognition is its proactive approach to capacity expansion and supply chain resilience. As demand for advanced packaging materials continues to grow—driven by AI, automotive electronics, and next-generation communication technologies—the ability to deliver materials at scale without compromising quality has become increasingly important.
To address this challenge, Asahi Kasei has made significant investments in new production facilities and manufacturing capabilities. The launch of a new plant dedicated to advanced materials such as PIMEL™ reflects the company’s forward-looking strategy to support customers’ long-term growth plans. These investments not only enhance production capacity but also strengthen quality control, process stability, and responsiveness to market fluctuations.
Collaboration as a Key Success Factor
The semiconductor industry is characterized by deep interdependence among manufacturers, material suppliers, equipment providers, and technology partners. Asahi Kasei’s close collaboration with TSMC exemplifies this ecosystem-driven approach. By working closely with customers during both development and production phases, Asahi Kasei has been able to tailor its materials to specific process requirements and accelerate the adoption of new technologies.
The 2025 TSMC Excellent Performance Award serves as a testament to the strength of this collaborative relationship. It highlights Asahi Kasei’s ability to function not just as a supplier, but as a strategic partner contributing to innovation, efficiency, and reliability across the semiconductor value chain.
Enabling AI and Next-Generation Applications
AI-related applications are among the fastest-growing drivers of semiconductor demand, placing unprecedented performance and reliability requirements on chip packaging technologies. Advanced packaging materials must withstand higher power densities, tighter integration, and more complex architectures while maintaining long-term reliability.
Asahi Kasei’s PIMEL™ materials are designed to address these challenges, offering a balance of performance, durability, and manufacturability. By supporting advanced semiconductor designs tailored for AI workloads, the company is helping to enable breakthroughs in areas such as machine learning, autonomous systems, and data analytics.
Sustaining Leadership in Advanced Materials
Receiving the 2025 TSMC Excellent Performance Award marks an important milestone for Asahi Kasei, but it also reinforces the company’s responsibility to continue innovating in a rapidly evolving industry. As semiconductor technologies advance toward heterogeneous integration, chiplet architectures, and even more complex packaging solutions, the role of high-performance materials will become increasingly critical.
Asahi Kasei’s emphasis on long-term investment, technological excellence, and close customer collaboration positions it well to meet these future challenges. By aligning its corporate strategy with the needs of the semiconductor industry, the company aims to remain at the forefront of advanced packaging materials and contribute meaningfully to the next generation of electronic technologies.
A Strong Signal to the Global Semiconductor Market
Ultimately, the recognition from TSMC sends a strong signal to the global semiconductor market about Asahi Kasei’s capabilities and reliability as a materials partner. The award validates the company’s efforts in technology development, production support, and strategic investment, while also highlighting the importance of advanced materials in shaping the future of semiconductors.
As the industry continues to evolve at an accelerated pace, Asahi Kasei’s achievement demonstrates how material innovation, supply stability, and collaborative partnerships can come together to drive progress. With PIMEL™ and its broader electronics materials portfolio, Asahi Kasei is well positioned to support the semiconductor industry’s next wave of growth—particularly in advanced packaging solutions that will power AI, high-performance computing, and beyond.
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