News: Suppliers
9 October 2025
JX making further investment to increase InP substrate production
Due to rapidly increasing demand, particularly in the optical communications field, Tokyo-based JX Advanced Metals Corp is to make a further capital investment to increase the production of indium phosphide (InP) substrates at its Isohara Plant in Kitaibaraki City, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Including the ¥1.5bn investment announced on 23 July to expand capacity by about 20%, the total capital investment is now about ¥3.3bn to increase InP substrate production capacity by about 50% compared to 2025 levels.
In recent years, against the background of rapid advances in generative AI, the construction of hyperscale data centers has accelerated globally, with further market expansion expected. As a result, data transmission volumes within data centers are surging, leading to a proportional increase in power consumption. In response, the shift toward optical communication is accelerating. This technology not only enables faster and higher-capacity data transmission than conventional electrical signals but also contributes to reducing power consumption.
InP substrates are essential for manufacturing high-performance devices used across a wide range of fields, including optical transmitters and receivers for optical communication, proximity sensors in wearable devices, and industrial image sensors. In particular, demand for optical transceivers using light-emitting and light-receiving elements is rapidly increasing. Furthermore, InP substrates are also expected to be adopted in photonic-electronic convergence technology, which is being developed as a next-generation information and communications infrastructure technology. Their use is anticipated not only for inter-data center but also for inter-board and even inter-semiconductor package communication applications.
In response to this growing demand, JX decided in July to make the capital investment. Moreover, anticipating the continued evolution of generative AI, the firm determined that establishing a system to handle the rapid surge in demand for InP substrates is an urgent priority and has decided on additional capital investment. JX expects future demand for InP substrates to continue increasing and is also continuing to consider further investments.
