KUALA LUMPUR: Japanese metal materials producer Mitsui Kinzoku is investing ¥190 billion (RM4.87 billion) to build a new copper foil plant in Malaysia, aiming to secure stable supply as demand surges from the artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors.
The outlay covers ¥14 billion for land, ¥32 billion for buildings and ¥144 billion for production equipment, according to a Nikkei Asia report citing the company. Copper foil is a critical material for optical communications devices used in AI data centres, where demand is rising for optical transceivers that convert electrical signals into optical ones and vice versa.
The new facility will be located on land near Mitsui Kinzoku’s existing plant in Malaysia and is scheduled to begin operations in phases from April 2031. Once fully ramped up over three years, it will add 400 units of MicroThinTM capacity equivalent to about 10,000 square metres per month, alongside 1,200 tonnes per month of VSPTM capacity. VSPTM is an electrolytic copper foil engineered specifically for high-frequency circuit boards.
Mitsui Kinzoku already operates in the country through its subsidiary Mitsui Copper Foil (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, which produces high-precision copper foil for electronics, semiconductors and AI data centres. The fresh investment underscores the company’s push to expand output of specialised materials as global technology infrastructure grows.