Sakata INX : Notice Concerning Capital and Business Alliance with CONNECTEC JAPAN Corporation

- Accelerating New Business Creation in the Semiconductor Materials Sector -

SAKATA INX CORPORATION (Head office: Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi; Representative Director, President & CEO: Yoshiaki Ueno; securities code: 4633; the "Company") announces that it has signed a capital and business alliance with CONNECTEC JAPAN Corporation ("CTJ"), which engages in contract-based assembly and packaging development of electronic devices, including semiconductors. This alliance is aimed at accelerating material development in new sectors that the Company is advancing, with a special focus on achieving a full-scale entry into the semiconductor materials sector.

[Overview]
Through the capital and business alliance with CTJ, the Company will combine its material development capabilities with CTJ's assembly and packaging, evaluation, and process development capabilities, integrating the processes from the development of semiconductor materials to their adoption in the market, aiming to shorten the lead time. Material development based on the dispersion technology that the Company has been developing will be combined with CTJ's technologies in assembly, packaging and evaluation, enabling prompt progress in market application, something that was hard to achieve with single materials.
At the same time, the Company's material development capabilities will permit CTJ to make proposals that are more appropriate for customer requests.
The two companies will strengthen the framework for future mass production, aiming to expand the business.

[Background of the alliance]
While the semiconductor back-end process market has been growing at an accelerating pace in recent years, it is vital to respond quickly to the market. For instance, the timing of adoption is limited for each product generation. The Company has been accumulating knowledge in material technologies through its research and development in the electronics and energy domain. However, strengthening evaluation, assembly and packaging, as well as customer contact, is essential if the Company's products are to be actually adopted in the market.
CTJ has a system in which evaluation, development, and manufacturing related to semiconductor assembly and packaging are integrated. Its strength lies in its ability to promptly implement a cycle of evaluation and improvement based on customer requests.
Through this alliance, the Company will acquire these functions and achieve integration of processes from material development to commercialization, with a focus on the semiconductor back-end process.