A chemical product unit of Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it had conducted improper quality inspections on its semiconductor materials, the latest such revelation among major Japanese manufacturers.
Hitachi Chemical Co. did not elaborate on the misconduct, saying it is awaiting a report by an investigation panel. But one of its officials said the company had fabricated figures in its inspections of chip sealing materials in order to meet specifications ordered by client companies.
Hitachi Chemical said no quality problems or legal violations had been confirmed so far.
The company announced in June similar data fabrication for industrial batteries and launched the investigation panel the following month. The panel is now expanding its probe to other products including the chip materials called molding compounds, it said.
Hitachi Chemical, which has the world's second-largest share for the sealing materials used for heat and shock resistance after Sumitomo Bakelite Co., did not reveal how many companies it had contracted with to deliver the products in question.
It is among several major Japanese companies found to have fabricated product data, including Kobe Steel Ltd., Subaru Corp. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.