A manufacturer of tantalum – a rare and hard metal that is highly corrosion-resistant and is used in the electronics sector to make electrical circuits, capacitors and resistors – recently expanded its production in the city of Lishui in East China's Zhejiang province.

Tongchuang (Lishui) Special Materials Co Ltd – located in the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone – started operating its new second and third electron-beam furnaces at its ultra-pure tantalum plant.

It's expected that the production upgrade will see the company accelerate its progress towards becoming a global tantalum industry champion.

Tantalum is regarded as an important strategic resource in China and is seen an indispensable key material in very large-scale integrated manufacturing.

Until recently, ultra-pure tantalum technology used in high-end chip manufacturing worldwide was monopolized by two companies in the United States and Japan, and China was completely dependent on imports.

But that changed when the enterprise launched the first equipment with complete independent intellectual property rights last year and the area then became the first electronics grade ultra-high purity tantalum materials industry base in China.

"The speed and business environment of the Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone is truly amazing," said Huang Zhipan, deputy general manager of the manufacturer.

The industrialization of ultra-pure tantalum for large-scale integrated circuits took only one year from its introduction to ramp up to full operation.

The Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone helped managed the project and resolved  any difficulties encountered in the production process in a timely manner, which accelerated the speed of construction.

The enterprise achieved an output value of over 140 million yuan ($19.68 million) from January to July. With the second and third electron-beam furnaces now operating, the annual output value is expected to reach 400 million yuan.

"We now have three electron-beam furnaces in production and the capacity has been greatly improved. It is expected that four more electron-beam furnaces will be produced this year," Huang added.

The company plans to complete a ultra-pure supply chain and achieve an annual production capacity of 400 metric tons of tantalum next year, ranking it first in the world.