What happened
Daifuku completed the G Building at its Shiga Plant mother factory on April 3, 2026, raising domestic cleanroom production capacity for semiconductor transport and storage systems by 1.3× versus the previous level.
Why it matters
The added capacity is meant to handle next-generation AMHS hardware — including multi-product back-end transport and large PLP (panel-level packaging) equipment — which is first built and quality-verified in Japan before global deployment, according to the body.
What to watch
The G Building also includes a large test line that fully replicates a real semiconductor fab cleanroom, so the payoff hinges on whether that setup actually shortens on-site tuning and supports customers' early volume ramp-up (Time to Market).
WHO IT HITSSemiconductor makers building mega fabs will be the ones who feel this first, since Daifuku says the new test line is designed to shorten on-site tuning and speed their fab ramp-up. The expansion also matters to Daifuku's own manufacturing and quality-verification teams in Shiga, who now handle initial production of the more complex back-end and PLP systems.
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The G Building sits at Daifuku's Shiga Plant in Shiga Prefecture's Hino Town, described as the company's mother factory. Daifuku already runs production plants in China, Taiwan and South Korea and subsidiaries in the US and Singapore, so the Shiga expansion is positioned as the first stop in a chain: complex next-generation AMHS is built and quality-verified in Japan, then rolled out globally.
The report frames this against a broader shift in semiconductor manufacturing. As front-end miniaturization runs into physical limits, advanced packaging — 2.5D/3D packaging, chiplets, and panel-level packaging using large 600mm × 600mm substrates — is carrying more of the performance gains. That pushes back-end assembly and testing toward front-end-grade cleanroom standards and far more varied transport objects, a problem Daifuku addresses with its "Multi-product Transportation" back-end AMHS concept.
The numbers behind the investment are large. Fortune Business Insights values the fab automation market at about $24.56 billion in 2025, projected to reach $27.82 billion in 2026 and about $85.71 billion by 2034, a CAGR of 15.1%. The body also notes SEMI's June 2025 forecast of a 69% rise in sub-7nm capacity from 2024 to 2028, reaching 1.4 million wafers per month. Whether Daifuku's added capacity converts into share gains likely hinges on whether the replicated cleanroom test line genuinely trims customer ramp-up time — the metric chipmakers weigh most heavily, per the body.
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