
Showa Denko has blamed a sharp rise in the prices it pays of raw materials that go into its high-purity fluorine-based gases for the need to raise its own prices for high-purity FC-116 (C2F6) and FC-14 (CF4) gases, mainly used chamber cleaning applications in semiconductor process tools. Showa Denko said prices would increase by 500 yen per kilogram, with shipments on August 1, 2011 onwards.
Showa Denko also noted that the prices rises were despite efforts to reduce production costs by improving production efficiency and other means, customers would now have to bear a part of the cost increase in order to ensure the stable supply of C2F6 and CF4 gases.