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History

We, AGC, founded in 1907, began our chemical business in 1917 with the production of soda ash, a raw material in flat glass.
After nearly 100 years in business, we have expanded our enterprise into chlor-alkali and urethane, gas and solvents, fluoroproducts, and life sciences*, to produce the world's finest products for a wide variety of fields.
* Establish “Life Science Company” as a new in-house company, effective January 1, 2023.

  • Chlor-alkali / Urethane
  • Fluorine / Specialty chemicals
  • Life science

1907

9.8

Asahi Glass Company established in Amagasaki, Hyogo Pref.

1917

2.13

Started soda ash production using the ammonium method at Makiyama plant in Kitakyushu (the first ammonia soda business in Japan)

Makiyama plant in Kitakyushu
Makiyama plant in Kitakyushu

1933

July.

Established a caustic soda plant using the ammonium method at Makiyama plant and started production.

Caustic soda
Caustic soda

1958

12.20

Started full-scale natural gas development construction in Chiba Prefecture (completed a transportation pipeline on July 30, 1959)

1959

3.20

Established Chiba plant in Goi-machi, Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture

1964

4.28

Started manufacture of flon gas at Chiba plant and started sales under the product name Asahi Flon the following month

1965

10.27

Founded Thai Asahi Caustic Soda Co., Ltd., in Bangkok in a joint venture with local Thai capital

1966

2.25

Established Asahi-Penn Chemical Co., Ltd., jointly with Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. of America (PPG), Mitsubishi Corporation, and Itochu Corporation and entered the vinyl chloride business, including vinyl chloride monomer and chlorinated solvents, etc.

1967

12.15

Started full-scale operation of vinyl chloride monomer, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene manufacturing using an oxychlorination method based on technology owned by Asahi-Penn Chemical Co., Ltd., and PPG of America

1971

Succeeded in the development of AsahiGuard AG-710, a fluorinated water and oil repellent applying fluorine compounds

1972

3.28

Developed Aflon COP, the world's first easily moldable and processable ETFE fluorinated resin

1974

3.

7.16

9.8

Converted the caustic soda manufacturing equipment at Kitakyushu plant to diaphragm electrolysis (the first conversion in Japan)

Established Asahi-Olin Ltd. in a joint venture with Olin Corporation of America

Established Kashima plant in Kamisu Town, Ibaraki Prefecture

Kashima plant
Kashima plant

1975

6.6

8.1

Publicly announced the development of the ion exchange membrane Flemion electrolysis method for use in caustic soda manufacture

Converted caustic soda manufacturing equipment at Chiba plant from a mercury process to the diaphragm process

Fused film molding technology and ETFE technology to develop Fluon® ETFE Film, a fluoropolymer film

Started manufacture of AFLAS® fluorinated elastomer

Started manufacture of Polyether Polyol,  EXCENOL™.

Fluon ® ETFE FILM
Fluon ® ETFE FILM

1981

6.

Established Asahi-ICI Fluoropolymers Co., Ltd., a tetrafluoroethylene PTFE resin manufacturing company, in a joint venture with ICI of the UK

Started manufacture of Polymer Polyol.

1982

1.

6.

Started sales of LUMIFLON® fluoropolymer varnish

Completed technology for conversion from the diaphragm process to ion exchange membrane process electrolysis for caustic soda manufacture at Kitakyushu plant (started manufacture in October)

1983

4.

Started manufacture of PTFE resin fluoropolymer at Asahi-ICI Fluoropolymers Co., Ltd.

Fluoropolymers, Fluon®
Fluoropolymers, Fluon®

1984

2.

Started manufacture of AFLAS® fluorinated elastomer at Chiba plant

Started production of solvent soluble LUMIFLON® fluoropolymer varnish

LUMIFLON
LUMIFLON®

1986

7.9

7.

9.

Completed the Kashima propylene oxide plant

Converted the diaphragm process for caustic soda manufacture at Chiba plant to the ion-exchange membrane process

Established PT Asahimas Subentra Chemical in a joint venture with PT Rodamas and PT Subentra in Indonesia

PT Asahimas Subentra Chemical
PT Asahimas Subentra Chemical

1991

7.

Started production of AsahiKlin AK-225 alternative Fluorinated solvents at Chiba plant

Started manufacture of high molecular weight and low side product polyether polyol, PREMINOL™

1993

6.22

Established Keiyo Monomer Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of vinyl chloride monomers, with Maruzen Petrochemical Co., Ltd.

Started manufacture of silane modified polyether, EXCESTAR™

1997

The venture with Olin Corporation has been dissolved and Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. obtained 100 % of the company's share., Asahi Olin, Ltd.

Developed ASPEX-a high-efficiency, high-speed protein production technology

1998

4.1

Changed the company name from Asahi-Olin, Ltd. to Asahi Glass Urethane Co., Ltd.

Established a pharmaceutical intermediate / active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing company (Wakasa AGC Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd.) and started production

1999

12.

Completed the purchase of the fluoropolymer business of ICI of the UK and started business as AGC Fluoropolymers in the USA and the UK

AGC Chemicals America, Inc.
AGC Chemicals America, Inc.

2001

Established a urethane product development center in Kashima plant.

2002

10.

Discontinued manufacture of chemical products at Kitakyushu plant

2003

11.28

Established AGC Chemicals Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. as a sales base for chemical products centered on fluorine products in Shanghai, China

Completed GMP-compliant CMP building at the Chiba Plant to manufacture investigational products for multiple applications

2005

10.6

Publicly announced the new installation of Fluon®ETFE production equipment at AGC Fluoropolymers UK

AGC Chemicals Europe, Ltd.
AGC Chemicals Europe, Ltd.

2006

1.

Started sales of AsahiGuard E Series, a new type of environmentally-compliant AsahiGuard fluorinated water and oil repellents

Established a fluorine product technical service center in Exton, Pennsylvania

AsahiGuard E-Series ™
AsahiGuard E-Series ™

2008

Constructed a new biopharmaceutical plant to increase its production capacity by 10-fold within the Chiba Plant

Approval for the manufacturing and sales of Tafluprost, an active pharmaceutical ingredient for glaucoma developed jointly with Santen Pharmaceutic

Tafluprost, an active pharmaceutical ingredient for glaucoma
Tafluprost, an active pharmaceutical ingredient for glaucoma

2009

Consolidated Asahi Glass Urethane Co., Ltd. and Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. to Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.

2011

Established a sales base for fluorine products in Sao Paulo, Brazil

2012

Established a sales base for fluorine products in Guangzhou, China

2013

8.

11.

Announced the 6th production capacity expansion plan (caustic soda, vinyl chloride) of PT Asahimas Chemical of Indonesia

Reached agreement with Petronas Chemicals Group, the parent company, with regard to the acquisition of a 78% holding in its subsidiary, Phu My Plastics & Chemicals Co., Ltd., a vinyl chloride business in Vietnam

Constructed Kaminaka Plant in Wakasa Techno Valley, Fukui Prefecture

Vinyl chloride business in Vietnam
Vinyl chloride business in Vietnam

2014

1.

3.6

3.19

Publicly announced the new installation at Chiba plant of highly efficient manufacturing capability for 1234yf, a next generation, environmentally-compliant refrigerant for automobiles

Established a fluorine product technical service center in Shanghai, China

Succeeded in the development of AMOLEA ™, a new refrigerant for air conditioning equipment that suppresses the impact of global warming to 1/6

Established a sales base for fluorine products in Moscow, Russia

Technical service center in Shanghai
Technical service center in Shanghai

2015

4.8

7.

10.22

Publicly announced a plan to construct a power station at PT Asahimas Chemical in Indonesia (scheduled for operation in 2017)

Established a fluorine product technical service center in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Established a sales base for fluorine products in Chengdu, China

Technical service center in Amsterdam
Technical service center in Amsterdam

2016

9.6

Established a fluorine product application development center in Singapore

Acquired Biomeva, biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organizations in Europe

2017

2.22

10.23

11.6

12.14

Acquired CMC Biologics, biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organizations

Acquired Vinythai, Chlor-Alkali business in Southeast Asia

AMOLEA™ 1224yd, New Refrigerant with Lower Environmental Impact, Acquires International Certification

Launched the new brand “FORBLUE™”

Developed Technology to Enhance the Performance of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic (CFRTP)

AGC Biologics (former CMC Biologics)
AGC Biologics (former CMC Biologics)

2018

8.30

10.2

Made Drastic Expansion to Production Capacity for Fluon+ EA-2000 Fluorinated resin, a Material Used in 5G High-Speed High-Frequency Printed Circuit Boards

AGC Launches Global Sales of AMOLEA™ AS-300, a New Type of Environmentally-friendly Fluorinated Solvent

Established R&D Center in Seattle, U.S.A

2019

Acquired Malgrat Pharma Chemicals, Synthetic pharmaceutical active ingredient manufacturing plant in Spain

Malgrat Pharma Chemicals
Malgrat Pharma Chemicals

2020

6.1

6.2

11.30

Acquired Molmed, gene & cell therapy organizations in Italy.

AMOLEA™, Low-Environmental-Impact HFOs, was Awarded Minister of the Environment Award in the GSC Awards

Acquired Biopharmaceutical Commercial Facility in Colorado, U.S.A, formerly owned by AstreaZeneca.

Fluon® ETFE Film Adopted at SoFi Stadium in the U.S.

AGC Biologics (Italy) (former Molecular Medicine)
AGC Biologics (Italy) (former Molecular Medicine)