Panasonic announces production of semiconductor mounters and invests 15 billion yen to expand factories in China and Japan

CTOnews.com, July 11, according to the Nikkei Chinese website, Panasonic Connect, a subsidiary of Panasonic Holdings, will increase production of semiconductor placement machines and plans to invest about 15 billion yen (CTOnews.com Note: about 765 million yuan) to expand the Jiafu factory in Japan and the factory in Jiangsu, China. Panasonic plans to increase its placement machine production capacity by 50% by 2025 compared with 2021.

The ▲ image source Pixabay mounter is crucial for the production of electronic devices such as smartphones and personal computers. Panasonic Connect predicts that the market size of the mounter will increase from 380 billion yen in 2020 (currently about 19.38 billion yuan) to 630 billion yen (currently about 32.13 billion yuan) in 2030. Although demand for placement machines is expected to shrink in 2023 due to stagnant smartphone production and semiconductors, Panasonic expects long-term demand for placement machines to continue to grow against the backdrop of the popularity of pure electric vehicles and self-driving technology.

Under the new investment plan, Panasonic Connect's main plant in Japan will increase its capacity by 30%, while the plant in Jiangsu, China, will build a second plant by 2025, doubling its capacity from 2021.

Panasonic Connect currently accounts for about 30% of the placement machine market, ranking among the top three in the world together with another Japanese company Fuji. Panasonic Connect's "process automation business", including placement machines and welding machines, had sales of 221.9 billion yen (currently about 11.317 billion yuan) in 2022 and is expected to increase to 400 billion yen (currently about 20.4 billion yuan) by 2030.