In a chat with Pradeep Chakraborty, Yutaka Ito, MD of TANAKA Kikinzoku (India) Pvt Ltd, India and the Center East, has spelled out the roadmap for high-purity, mission-critical supplies. Excerpts: 

DQ: How is TANAKA positioning itself to help the surge in demand for high-purity, mission-critical supplies like gold, platinum, and palladium in purposes reminiscent of chip packaging, superior sensors, and high-reliability digital units?

Yutaka Ito: TANAKA is uniquely positioned to help the rising demand for high-purity, mission-critical supplies reminiscent of gold, platinum, and palladium by leveraging greater than 140 years of experience in treasured metals. 

These supplies are indispensable for purposes like chip packaging, superior sensors, catalysts, and high-reliability digital units because of their superior conductivity, resistance to corrosion, and confirmed reliability. 

Few corporations worldwide can match TANAKA’s potential to develop and mass-produce cutting-edge treasured metal-based supplies and alloys with superior fabrication applied sciences—a functionality demonstrated for the reason that earliest days of semiconductor mass manufacturing.

As a part of its international enlargement, TANAKA is actively supplying confirmed semiconductor supplies to rising markets reminiscent of India, whereas additionally exploring native partnerships and conducting due diligence to evaluate the feasibility of creating manufacturing bases to help the success and progress of regional semiconductor ecosystems. 

With the semiconductor business present process speedy enlargement, TANAKA is ramping up capabilities to fulfill the demand for ultra-high purity supplies important for mission-critical purposes reminiscent of chip packaging, superior sensors, elements for 5G modules, and aerospace-grade electronics. 

Consistent with this progress, TANAKA established its Mumbai base in 2019 to align with gross sales and buyer demand in semiconductors, electronics, and sensors. This presence allows a steady, localized provide of treasured steel supplies important for chip packaging and superior units, lowering reliance on imports and supporting India’s strategic targets for semiconductor self-sufficiency.

TANAKA can also be a world chief with a excessive market share in bonding wires — together with ultra-fine gold, palladium-coated copper, and aluminum variants. These are important for connecting chips and exterior electrodes in trendy units, providing excessive reliability and miniaturization essential for dense packaging in India’s semiconductor manufacturing. 

As well as, superior contact probe supplies utilizing high-hardness palladium alloys improve reliability throughout chip testing, enhancing yield and lowering gadget failure charges—pivotal for India’s high-volume electronics market.

As India advances its semiconductor ambitions, TANAKA is proud to contribute by means of confirmed product management, innovation in recycling, and sustainable useful resource administration—serving to guarantee efficiency, reliability, and sustainability for the nation’s rising position within the international electronics ecosystem.

DQ: What options is TANAKA providing to assist India-based OEMs and fabs meet strict reliability and efficiency requirements, notably by means of superior materials purification, recycling initiatives, and closed-loop treasured steel restoration techniques?

Yutaka Ito: At TANAKA, sustainability is on the core of our innovation. It’s well-known that utilizing treasured recycled metals considerably reduces carbon emissions in comparison with newly mined assets. 

With greater than 140 years of experience in refining and recycling, we offer clients with a one-stop service—recovering, refining, and reusing treasured metals. This not solely reduces environmental influence but in addition ensures a steady and dependable provide, aligning with India’s imaginative and prescient of self-reliance and international targets for a round financial system.

To help OEMs and fabs, we concentrate on three key areas. First, we ship high-purity treasured metals that guarantee constant efficiency for superior purposes like semiconductors, sensors, and digital units. 

Second, we offer dependable industrial merchandise developed after years of R&D, reminiscent of bonding wires, which might be important for miniaturization and sturdiness in at this time’s high-tech merchandise. 

And third, we function closed-loop recycling techniques that get better treasured metals from manufacturing processes, cut back waste, and return supplies again into the worth chain—serving to clients management prices whereas defending the surroundings.

Right here, in India, we established our Mumbai base in 2019 to serve clients extra carefully and supply localized entry to treasured steel supplies. This presence helps key industries reminiscent of semiconductors, electronics, automotive catalysts, and hydrogen vitality, whereas lowering reliance on imports. 

We’re additionally introducing sustainable product strains, such because the RE Collection merchandise, designed to chop the necessity for newly mined supplies and promote extra environment friendly use of assets.

By combining innovation, sustainability, and a robust native presence, TANAKA is dedicated to serving to India’s semiconductor ecosystem develop whereas making certain international clients profit from dependable, high-quality, and environmentally accountable treasured steel options.

DQ: What’s the evolving position of treasured metals in semiconductor packaging, particularly in areas like wire bonding, thermal administration, and superior interconnects, and the way is TANAKA innovating to fulfill these wants?

Yutaka Ito: Valuable metals proceed to play an indispensable position in semiconductor packaging, from wire bonding to thermal administration and superior interconnects. At TANAKA, we’re driving innovation throughout all these areas to fulfill the business’s rising expectations for efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.

Wire bonding stays on the basis of semiconductor packaging, and our precious-metal bonding wires are key to making sure long-term stability. Gold (gold-alloys) bonding wires stay the benchmark for mission-critical purposes because of their unmatched reliability and resistance to corrosion. 

Copper wires ship excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, making them properly suited to energy electronics. Palladium-coated copper wires convey the perfect of each, combining copper’s conductivity with the floor stability of palladium. 

Collectively, these three options give our clients the pliability to decide on the best materials for his or her wants, whether or not which means final reliability, superior efficiency, or balanced options for fine-pitch designs.

As units grow to be extra highly effective, warmth administration has grow to be simply as important. TANAKA supplies superior silver-based die-bonding supplies, together with hybrid and sintering pastes, which provide glorious thermal conductivity and are designed to help next-generation energy units.

Equally essential, we’re dedicated to sustainability and long-term provide safety. By means of recycling know-how acquired by means of years of technological improvement, we will get better and refine treasured metals from manufacturing processes, lowering environmental influence whereas making certain steady entry for purchasers. 

This one-stop strategy—from procurement and manufacturing to recycling—not solely strengthens provide resilience but in addition helps India’s self-reliance initiatives and the worldwide push towards a round financial system.

In abstract, treasured metals stay central to probably the most reliability-sensitive features of semiconductor packaging, and TANAKA is proud to ship the supplies, applied sciences, and sustainable options that assist our clients in India and worldwide obtain each efficiency excellence and provide stability.

DQ: How is TANAKA collaborating with Indian and international companions to ascertain clear, traceable, and resilient provide chains for treasured metals that adjust to worldwide sustainability and high quality benchmarks?

Yutaka Ito: At TANAKA, we now have constructed treasured provide chains which might be clear, traceable, and resilient by working with companions worldwide, aligned with the very best international sustainability and high quality requirements.

We comply with a Accountable Valuable Metals Sourcing Coverage, primarily based on the OECD Due Diligence Steerage and LBMA/LPPM frameworks, making certain moral sourcing and clear visibility on origin and danger administration. This mitigates dangers reminiscent of battle minerals, human rights abuses, and environmental hurt. 

As Japan’s solely Good Supply Referee for LBMA and LPPM, and with ISO/IEC 17025 accredited labs and ISO 14001 licensed websites, we offer unbiased assurance of high quality, integrity, and environmental efficiency.

Our sourcing community spans globally accredited suppliers, overlaying platinum, palladium, gold, silver, and different important metals, whereas strategic recycling ventures develop restoration capability and reinforce resilience and counters geopolitical danger. 

By means of our recycling techniques and the RE Collection of 100% recycled supplies, we ship totally traceable, low-carbon options that help round financial targets.

With our India base in Mumbai since 2019, we work carefully with native OEMs to make sure compliant sourcing, sooner documentation, and environment friendly recycling packages—serving to shorten provide chains, cut back danger, and help India’s self-reliance.

In abstract, TANAKA affords a ‘see-through’ international provide chain—clear, accountable, and resilient—backed by sustainability, native presence, and world-class high quality requirements.”

DQ: What ought to India do to raised supply supplies and minerals sooner or later? Does it must have a neighborhood setup? If sure, how does one go about establishing that?

Yutaka Ito: India can safe the valuable metals it wants for superior manufacturing by combining diversified international sourcing with a robust native ecosystem—particularly in recycling. 

Sure, a neighborhood setup is important, and it have to be constructed with transparency, traceability, and world-class high quality from the very starting. On the identical time, e-waste have to be handled as a strategic feedstock for treasured metals, by formalizing assortment, logistics, and take-back packages from each city mining and manufacturing scrap. 

Collaborating with international leaders for know-how switch in superior refining and closed-loop recycling shall be important.

Constructing this ecosystem would require sensible steps reminiscent of joint ventures and partnerships with OEMs, EMS suppliers, and approved recyclers, piloting closed-loop packages with scalable refining and purification amenities that may ship semiconductor-grade treasured metals. Simply as essential are enabling situations round infrastructure and regulation:

Energy and water infrastructure: Metals refining is extremely energy- and water-intensive. Refining hubs have to be supported by dependable, reasonably priced, and inexperienced vitality (photo voltaic, wind, hydropower) and superior water-treatment/recycling amenities to make sure sustainable operations.

Particular Financial Zones (SEZs) / Industrial Parks for metals and recycling: Devoted clusters with shared infrastructure—logistics hubs, testing labs, remedy vegetation—can decrease setup prices, enhance effectivity, and speed up business progress.

Eliminating the casual e-waste recycling sector: At this time, small-scale, unregulated operators dominate e-waste recycling with unsafe, inefficient strategies. Transitioning to a regulated, technologically superior sector will allow larger restoration of treasured metals, decrease environmental injury, and shield employee well being.

For the semiconductor ecosystem, these steps are mission important. Semiconductor fabrication and packaging demand a constant provide of ultra-high-purity treasured metals reminiscent of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. These supplies are important for bonding wires, interconnects, plating, and superior packaging. 

By creating native recycling and refining capability that meets semiconductor-grade purity requirements, India can:
* Guarantee dependable entry to important treasured metals for home fabs and OSATs.
* Cut back dependence on risky international markets and provide disruptions.
* Construct a closed-loop system the place e-waste feeds immediately into semiconductor manufacturing.
* Strengthen sustainability by minimizing environmental influence by means of treasured metals restoration.

TANAKA, with over 140 years of experience in treasured metals, is able to associate on know-how switch, coaching, and scalable packages to assist understand India’s imaginative and prescient for a resilient and sustainable semiconductor supplies provide chain.