Shin-Etsu through the years
A chronology of domestic development
1926
Shin-Etsu Nitrogen Fertilizer Co., Ltd. (Founding company)
1926
Company is founded as Shin-Etsu Nitrogen Fertilizer Co., LTd. (Name changed in 1940 to Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.)
1927
Naoetsu Plant constructed
1938
First facility of today's Gunma Complex established
1940
Name changed to Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
1945
Takefu Plant constructed
1949
Shares listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange
1953
Silicone production begins
1955
Nissin Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. established
1957
PVC, caustic soda and chlorine production begins
1960
Shin-Etsu Polymer Co., Ltd. established
High-purity silicone production begins
1962
Shin-Etsu Astech Co., Ltd. established
1967
Shin-Etsu Metallurgical Co., Ltd., established
Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd. established
High-purity rare earths production begins
1968
Kashima Vinyl Chloride Monomer Co., Ltd. established
Nanyo Plant constructed
Shin-Etsu Vinyl Acetate Co., Ltd. established
1969
Naoetsu Electronics Co., Ltd. established
1970
Kashima Plant constructed
1972
Shin-Etsu Quartz Products Co., Ltd. established
Rare earth magnets developed
1972
Epoxy molding compounds developed
1976
Shin-Etsu Engineering Co., Ltd. established
PVC Research Center and Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center established
1977
Specialty Chemicals Research Center and Magnetic Materials
Research Center established
1978
Shin-Etsu Kasei Co., Ltd. established
1979
Synthetic quartz production begins
1980
Synthetic pheromones developed
1984
Shin-Etsu Handotai Shirakawa Plant constructed
1986
Shin-Etsu Sealant Co., Ltd. established
1988
Advanced Functional Materials Research Center established
1989
Corporate Research Center established
1992
Matsuida plant of Gunma Complex constructed
1993
Full-scale production of preforms for optical fibers begins
1998
Photoresist business is launched
1999
Commercialization of liquid fluoroelastomers is achieved
2001
New Functional Materials Research Center established
300 mm silicone wafer production begins
2002
JAPAN VAM & POVAL CO.,LTD. established
PVC Research Center was changed to PVC & Polymer Materials Research Center
2005
JAPAN VAM & POVAL Co. Ltd. becoming a wholly owned Shin-Etsu Group company
Shin-Etsu develops new high-performance technology for production of neodymium rare earth magnets
2006
TOB (take-over bid) of Mimasu Semiconductor Industry Co., Ltd completed
2007
Shin-Etsu Chemical and Toppan Printing jointly develop new leading-edge photomask blanks for finer-pitch 45 nm and 32 nm photolithography
Globalization
A chronology of the establishment of Shin-Etsu's global network
1960
C.I.R.E.S. (Portugal)
1973
Shintech, Inc. (U.S.A.)
S.E.H. Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
1979
Shin-Etsu Handotai America, Inc. (S.E.H. America)
1984
Shin-Etsu Handotai Europe, Ltd. (S.E.H. Europe)
1985
K-Bin, Inc. (U.S.A.)
Shin-Etsu Silicones of America, Inc.
1986
Shin-Etsu Silicone Korea Co., Ltd.
1987
Shin-Etsu Silicone Taiwan Co., Ltd
1988
Shin-Etsu (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
1989
Biocontrol Ltd. (Australia)
MicroSi, Inc. (U.S.A.)
Shin-Etsu Silicones Europe B.V. (The Netherlands)
1990
Shin-Etsu International Europe B.V. (The Netherlands)
Shin-Etsu Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Shin-Etsu Bio, Inc. (U.S.A.)
Heraeus Shin-Etsu America, Inc. (U.S.A.)
1991
Shincor Silicones, Inc. (U.S.A.)
1993
Shin-Etsu Magnetics, Inc. (U.S.A.)
S.E.H. (Shah Alam) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
1995
Shin-Etsu Opto Electronic Co., Ltd. (Taiwan)
Shin-Etsu Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Shin-Etsu Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Shin-Etsu Handotai Taiwan Co., Ltd.
1996
Simcoa Operations Pty. Ltd. (Australia)
1997
Silica Products, Inc. established
1999
A Dutch PVC business purchased and Shin-Etsu PVC B.V. established
2001
Asia Silicones Monomer Ltd. established
Shin-Etsu Silicones (Thailand) Ltd. founded in Thailand
Shintech's Louisiana Plant is completed
2002
Zhejiang Shin-Etsu High-Tech Chemical Co., Ltd. established
2003
Shin-Etsu Silicones of America, Inc., Freeport Plant is completed
Shin-Etsu Silicone International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. established
SE Tylose GmbH&Co. KG established.
2009
CIRES becomes a wholly-owned Shin-Etsu subsidiary with completion of takeover bid
2012
Shin-Etsu Chemical announces the establishment of two new companies in Vietnam, one for the manufacture of silicone materials for high-brightness LED packaging and the other for the separation and refinement of rare earths
2013
Asia Silisones Monomer Ltd. becomes a wholly-owned Shin-Etsu Group Company
2020
Shintech's ethylene plant starts operation