Shin-Etsu History

1945
Takefu Plant Established.
1960
Metallic Production Laboratory Established. (The predecessor of Magnetic Materials Research Center.)
1961
R&D for Rare Earth start.
1963
Start of research by the Metallic Production Laboratory into methods of manufacturing Yttrium for red fluorescent.
1967
Volume Production of Rare Earth Separation & Purification start.
Production of high-purity yttrium starts at Takefu Plant.
1969
Start of samarium production.
1970
Start of research into rare earth magnets.
1971
Rare earth solvent extraction pilot plant starts production of gadolinium, samarium and europium.
1972
Contract signed with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. for using CeCo 1-5 magnet patents.
Start of production of sample CeCo 1-5 magnets.
1974
Development of SmCo 2-17 magnets.
Commercialization of two types of magnets, cerium and samarium.
1976
Establishment of Magnet Business Department in New Metal Business Division.
SmCo Magnet volume Production start in Japan. (This is the first commercial production in the world.)
1977
Establishment of Magnetic Materials Research Center.
1983
Start of mass production of VCM magnet for HDD.
1984
Start of Asahi Branch Plant.
1985
Start of trail production of NdFeB magnets.
1986
NdFeB Magnet volume Production start in Japan.
Establishment of technology for nickel plating NdFeB magnets.
1987
Built rare earth Solvent Extraction Mass Production Plant.
1988
Asahi Branch Plant plating line start.
Established Shin-Etsu Malaysia, Sdn. Bhd.
1990
N40 magnets series go on sale.
1992
Binary Alloy Method applied to Mass production.
1994
N45 magnets series go on sale.
Automatic forming and heat-treatment line start.
1997
Start of magnet circuit assembly in Asahi Branch Plant.
1998
Fully-automated rare earth magnets manufacturing plant start.
1999
N48 magnets series go on sale.
Shin-Etsu Magnetics Philippines Inc. (SMP) start.
2000
N50 magnets series go on sale.
2001
N52 magnets series go on sale.
2004
Grain Boundary Diffusion Process (GBDP) Development.
2006
Shin-Etsu Magnetics (Thailand) Ltd. start.
Asahi Branch Plant Automatic Machining process start.
2007
Built up Recycle Plant in Japan.
2008
N-series magnets GBDP production start.
Recycle Operation start in Japan (Fukui Branch Plant).
Shin-Etsu Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. start.
2012
N-series magnets GBDP mass production start in Asahi Branch Plant.
2013
Shin-Etsu Magnetic Materials Vietnam Co., Ltd. start recycle operation.
Shin-Etsu (Changting) Technology Co., Ltd. start
Increase machining process capacity in Asahi Branch Plant.
2016
Magnet Block process start in Vietnam.
2019
Magnet Machining process start in Vietnam.
2022
Increase Machining process capacity in Asahi Branch Plant.
2023
Increase Magnet Block and Machining process capacity in Vietnam.
SMP plant Solar power system start.
2024
Increase Machining process capacity in Vietnam.
2025
Increase Magnet Block process capacity in Takefu.
Asahi Branch Plant Solar power system start