Acquisition · Semiconductor materials
JSR buys chip-materials startup Inpria for $514 million
- Buyer
- JSR (Tokyo)
- Target
- Inpria (remaining 79%), Corvallis, Oregon
- Value
- $514M
- Status
- Completed on October 29, 2021.
- Date
- 2021-09-17
JSR agreed to pay $514 million for the shares of Inpria it did not already own, taking its stake from about 21% to 100%. Inpria, a spin-out from Oregon State University, makes metal-oxide photoresists, light-sensitive coatings used to print the tiniest circuits on chips with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.
Why it matters
EUV resists are needed for the most advanced chips. Buying Inpria gave JSR, already a top resist supplier, a lead in the next generation of the technology.
The deal
On September 17, 2021, JSR agreed to buy all remaining shares of Inpria Corporation for $514 million. JSR had invested in Inpria since 2017 and held about 21% before the deal. Other shareholders included chip and equipment makers. The purchase closed on October 29, 2021.
About Inpria
Inpria was founded in 2007 as a spin-out from Oregon State University and is based in Corvallis, Oregon. It develops photoresists made with metal oxides, mainly tin oxide, instead of the usual organic polymers. Photoresists are coatings that react to light; chipmakers shine patterns of light onto them to print circuits. Metal-oxide resists absorb EUV light better and can print finer lines, which matters for chips at 3 nanometers and below.
Why JSR did it
Japanese companies, led by JSR, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo and Shin-Etsu Chemical, supply most of the world's photoresists. JSR wanted to secure the next generation of the technology rather than risk falling behind. Inpria's products were already being tested by leading chipmakers.
What happened next
In 2023 JSR agreed to be taken private by the government-backed Japan Investment Corporation, partly to invest more heavily in technologies like Inpria's. The deal is one of several Japanese purchases of US chip-materials makers since 2021.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
