Japan’s JIC Plans to Sell JSR to Mitsui Chemicals

What happened

According to foreign media reports on Nov. 5, Japan Investment Corp. (JIC), a public-private investment fund backed by the Japanese government, plans to sell semiconductor materials maker JSR to Mitsui Chemicals, with the deal expected to exceed 1.3 trillion yen, roughly two years after JIC acquired JSR for about 900 billion yen in 2024 and took it private. JIC could decide on the sale as early as this month; if completed, the transaction would rank among the largest mergers and acquisitions in Japan's chemical industry. JSR is a major global supplier of photoresists (PR) used in semiconductor lithography, competing with Japan's Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK) for the top two positions in the market for advanced semiconductor photoresists, including those used in EUV and ArF lithography. The source states the cause: weakness in JSR's life sciences business and the need to improve its financial structure prevented the originally planned acquisitions (using JSR as a platform) from gaining momentum, and rising valuations of semiconductor materials companies, driven by expanding AI infrastructure investment, also influenced the sale decision. Mitsui Chemicals, which has been expanding its semiconductor materials business and holds the leading market share in pellicles, has emerged as the prospective buyer; however, financing the large acquisition remains a challenge as its market capitalization is about 800 billion yen, below the estimated purchase price. Responding to the reports, Mitsui Chemicals said in a Nov. 4 regulatory filing that it is considering various options, including this matter, to enhance corporate value, but no decision has been made at this time.

Impact and signal

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Source and time

Source: The Elec · 11/4/2026 · View original source