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Mitsui Kinzoku Co., Ltd. has announced plans to invest approximately ¥190 billion ($1.2 billion) in a new copper foil manufacturing plant in Malaysia to meet growing demand from the AI and semiconductor industries.
The new facility will be located near the company's existing Mitsui Copper Foil (Malaysia) operations and will produce two key materials used in advanced electronics manufacturing: MicroThin™, a carrier-supported ultra-thin copper foil used in semiconductor package substrates, and VSP™, an electrodeposited copper foil designed for high-frequency circuit boards.
The investment reflects growing demand for advanced PCB and packaging materials as AI infrastructure expands. High-performance servers, data centers, and communications equipment require increasingly sophisticated substrates and circuit boards capable of supporting high-speed signal transmission.
According to the company's November 10 announcement, the new plant will begin operations in phases starting in April 2031. Production capacity will expand over the following three years, with the facility adding 4 million square meters per month of MicroThin capacity and 1,200 metric tons per month of VSP capacity by fiscal 2033.
With the new facility fully operational, Mitsui Kinzoku expects its total monthly production capacity across all locations to reach 12 million square meters of MicroThin and 2,600 metric tons of VSP copper foil.
The company has allocated approximately ¥14 billion for land, ¥32 billion for buildings, and ¥144 billion for manufacturing equipment and other assets.
The expansion builds on previously announced investments in copper foil production. Mitsui Kinzoku expects these investments to support substantial growth in its copper foil business, projecting operating profit to reach 3.2 times its fiscal 2025 level by fiscal 2030 and 5.5 times that level by fiscal 2033.
The new Malaysia facility represents a significant commitment to expanding the supply of specialized copper foil materials as AI and semiconductor applications drive demand for more advanced PCB and packaging technologies.
Source: Mitsui Kinzoku Co., Ltd., November 10, 2026.
