Saudi Basic Industries Corp. is increasing production of its Noryl-brand specialty resin at a plant in India.
The capacity expansion is focused on Noryl SA9000, a grade used in high-performance printed circuit boards (PCBs) for 5G base stations and high-speed servers, officials said in a news release.
Officials with Sabic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, added that the expansion will nearly double regional production in Asia and will increase Noryl SA9000 production in Asia tenfold vs. 2018.
The gain in capacity will help reduce global lead times for manufacturers of high-performance copper-clad laminates (CCLs), they added. That time savings then can provide manufacturers with more flexibility to meet customer requests for quick turnarounds.
The expansion is expected to be complete by the end of the year. The 5G infrastructure market is forecast to register 53 percent compounded annual growth between 2020 and 2025, officials said.
"As the wireless networking industry faces rising demand for infrastructure … Sabic is committed to delivering the unique material solutions our customers need to help drive this technology forward," Scott Fisher, specialties business director, said in the release.
Noryl SA9000 resin is a modified, low-molecular-weight, bi-functional oligomer based on polyphenylene ether (PPE). Officials said the material allows processors to make low-loss CCL products while balancing heat resistance, dimensional stability, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and higher layer count.
Noryl SA9000 also can be incorporated with thermoset resin systems such as styrenics, allylic, acrylic, maleimide, methacrylic and unsaturated polyester monomers and resins.
Sabic is a global materials supplier that employs more than 33,000.