New Building Complete for Kapton® Manufacturing Expansion, Production on Track to Begin in Early 2005

New facility in progress for the expansion of Kapton® polyimide film, Tokai City, Japan

In June, 2003, DuPont Electronic Technologies announced plans to build a new facility to increase its production of DuPont™ Kapton® polyimide film with Toray-DuPont Company, its joint venture with Toray Industries, in Japan. The new production line, called KP-4, is the fourth at the Tokai, Japan location since 1985 and one of three global Kapton® production lines added in the last 5 years. The KP-4 line will increase the annual output of Toray-Dupont Kapton® by 60% in order to meet the strong and growing market demand for flexible circuit materials in the region.

The new Kapton® KP-4 line, the largest polyimide film line ever built, has progressed rapidly. The building is complete and all major equipment is already installed. Checkout testing on equipment subsets has begun to ensure the facility will operate safely and efficiently. The first casting trial will occur by mid-November, followed quickly by customer sampling. Full production is expected to commence by January.

DuPont has invested significantly to increase Kapton® production to support the rapid growth of flexible circuit applications in electronic devices as well as other applications where the unique thermal and electrical properties of Kapton® have set the standard. The Tokai KP-4 line, along with the Circleville, Ohio K3 line started in 2003, have expand Kapton® global polyimide film capacity by more than 40%.

9/22/04

DuPont™ and Kapton® are trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.