Actions have been taken against Japan! Japan is in trouble! On September 7, our Ministry of Commerce announced a preliminary determination that imported dichlorosilane originating from Japan is being sold at dumped prices, and decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures starting Tuesday (September 8), requiring deposit of cash guarantees, with the highest guarantee rate reaching 99.2%.
Information indicates that dichlorosilane is a specialty gas used in semiconductor manufacturing, particularly in epitaxial growth and thin-film deposition processes. Major global suppliers include Shin-Etsu Chemical and Denka Silane from Japan.
Currently, China is one of the largest overseas markets for this product in Japan. With this announcement, the costs for several Japanese companies, led by Shin-Etsu Chemical, will nearly double, essentially eliminating their pricing advantage—posing a significant challenge for these firms. Japanese enterprises now face two choices: either continue exporting to China while bearing high cash guarantee burdens, or abandon the Chinese market entirely and shift production capacity to third countries to circumvent anti-dumping measures.
Regardless of which option they choose, the cost will be substantial. In fact, prior to this, certain Japanese companies had already complied with Japanese government regulations by tightening supply to China in critical materials such as photoresists. Meanwhile, in unconstrained specialty gas categories, they employed low-price strategies to squeeze out space for China’s emerging domestic industries. Although our anti-dumping action is unrelated to these past practices, with the maturation of China’s own dichlorosilane production technology, domestic alternatives are now available. This means China’s semiconductor supply chain is poised to achieve even greater independence and self-reliance.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875662835786762/
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