Toshiba Materials’ Major Investment in Second Production Facility Will Boost Silicon Nitride Ball Production
Toshiba Materials Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Takao Shirai) today announced a major investment in a new production facility that will significantly boost production capacity for silicon nitride balls. The facility will be constructed at the company’s Oita Operations in northern Kyushu, Japan, and the 7-billion yen project (approx. US$50 million) is expected to come online in January 2026.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230725410365/en/
Toshiba Materials: Image of silicon nitride balls (Graphic: Business Wire)
Continued advances in automobile electrification require performance improvements and solutions that go beyond higher voltage batteries and shorter charging times. One measure to improve performance is to integrate motors, inverters and decelerators. Although this increases the risk of electrolytic corrosion[1] in motor bearings[2], it is a problem that can be overcome with hybrid bearings with ceramic balls with steel inner and outer races. The added advantages of excellent strength, superior wear resistance and insulation properties are increasingly positioning ceramic balls as the solution of choice.
Toshiba Materials is proactively investing in increased production of silicon nitride balls for electric vehicles. In July 2022.[3] the company announced a production expansion at its headquarters site in Yokohama that boosted production by 50%. When the new Oita facility reaches full capacity, production capabilities will be 2.5 times that of the 2022 level.
Toshiba Materials will continue stable supply of high quality products, and will contribute to increased use of environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
Notes
[1] Electrolytic corrosion: damage to a bearing caused by a current flowing through it.
[2] Bearing: A part that allows a shaft to rotate smoothly in a machine. Formed with an inner race, balls, and outer race.
[3] Toshiba Material’s press release, July 19, 2022
https://www.toshiba-tmat.co.jp/pdf/en/news/new20220719.pdf
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230725410365/en/
Contact information
Media Inquiries:
K.Tanaka, S.Mihashi
Corporate Communications & Market Intelligence Group
Strategic Planning Div.
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
Tel: +81-44-548-2122
Mail: tdsc-publicrelations@ml.toshiba.co.jp
Website: https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Enginzyme and AGC Create Scalable Process for Key mRNA Ingredient12.1.2026 07:00:00 EET | Press release
At the mRNA Health conference in Berlin, enginzyme and AGC Inc. presented a scalable process to produce a key mRNA vaccine and therapy ingredient, N1-methylpseudouridine-5'-triphosphate (m¹ΨTP). The rapid growth of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics has driven significant demand for modified nucleotides like m¹ΨTP, which enhances mRNA stability and expression, while reducing immunogenicity. Enginzyme is a deep-tech company delivering optimized biomanufacturing solutions through cell-free enzyme engineering technology. AGC Inc. is a leading global player in fields spanning from architectural glass to chemicals and life science. AGC Inc. provides services in a wide range of life science fields, from synthetic pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, to biopharmaceuticals and leading-edge cell and gene therapies, as well as messenger RNAs. The presentation in November detailed the latest collaboration between the companies, with a focus on the biomanufacturing of nucleotides for mRNA therapy,
Ant International Partners with Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol to Expand AI Capabilities12.1.2026 03:15:00 EET | Press release
Ant International, a leading global payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, is collaborating on the launch of Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce that works across the entire shopping journey — from discovery and buying to post-purchase support. UCP establishes a common language for agents and systems to operate together across consumer surfaces, businesses, and payment providers to enable commerce. So instead of requiring unique connections for every individual agent, UCP enables all agents to interact easily. UCP is built to work across verticals and is compatible with existing industry protocols like Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). “For agentic commerce to scale, it’s critical for the industry to align on a common set of standards. We are proud to have Ant International endorse the Universal Commerce Protocol as the foundation for that future,” said Ashish Gupta, VP
Torq Secures $140M Series D at $1.2B Valuation to Lead the AI SOC and Agentic AI Era11.1.2026 18:59:00 EET | Press release
Torq, the established Agentic AI security operations pioneer, today announced it has closed a massive $140 million Series D funding round, propelling its valuation to $1.2 billion and total funding to $332M. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112510774/en/ Led by Merlin Ventures—a leading cybersecurity fund renowned for its deep access to the U.S. commercial and Public Sector markets—with participation from all existing investors, including Evolution Equity Partners, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Ventures Partners, and Greenfield Partners, this capital injection is a definitive investment in the future of security. Torq is driving the industry’s critical shift: the complete transformation of the Security Operations Center (SOC) through battle-tested AI Agents at enterprise scale. The new funds will accelerate the adoption of the Torq AI SOC Platform, the only end-to-end solution built on
Biocytogen and Acepodia Expand Collaboration Through Option-based Evaluation Framework for First-in-Class Bispecific and Dual-Payload ADCs (BsAD2C)9.1.2026 14:00:00 EET | Press release
Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (Biocytogen, SSE: 688796; HKEX: 02315) and Acepodia (6976:TT), today announced that the companies have entered into an option and license agreement designed to enable the structured evaluation of bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (BsADC) programs to further advance the development of dual-payload bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (BsAD2Cs). The agreement grants Acepodia an option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license from Biocytogen for two BsADC programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Biocytogen is eligible to receive an upfront option fee and, upon Acepodia’s exercise of the option, additional payments including option exercise fees, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties on future product sales. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “This new agreement builds upon our recent co-development collaboration with Acepodia, which has focused on the evaluation and selection
Blockstream Capital Partners Announces Strategic Acquisition of Derivatives Trading Team from Numeus Group, Leveraging Strategic Partnership with Komainu9.1.2026 12:08:00 EET | Press release
Blockstream Capital Partners (“BCP”) today announced that it has entered into a strategic agreement to acquire a division within Numeus Group’s digital asset trading and investment business. The transaction includes the absorption of select Bitcoin focused trading strategies with a focus on yield generation as well as a ten person derivatives trading team led by Chief Investment Officer Deepak Gulati, a specialist in volatility and derivatives markets. Deepak Gulati, appointed Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blockstream Capital Management alongside Rodrigo Rodriguez, previously served as Global Head of Proprietary Trading at JPMorgan, before founding Argentiere Capital, a multibillion-dollar volatility-focused hedge fund. With a thesis that derivatives would drive Bitcoin and digital asset market maturity, he co-founded Numeus Group in 2021 to develop institutional-grade trading, risk management and market-structure capabilities. Komainu, an existing BCP strategic investment, has played
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom