News Release

October 04, 2011 01:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Dow Electronic Materials Expands Manufacturing of Chip Packaging Materials
[#DowInvestorDay]

New capacity in Korea adds to global capabilities

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), today announced that construction is underway in Cheonan, Korea for a new manufacturing and testing facility for metallization materials used in advanced chip packaging. The new capacity adds to the manufacturing infrastructure currently in place at other global Dow sites.

“We are positioning this facility in Korea to provide material supply close to our local and regional customers,” said Leo Linehan, global business director for Advanced Packaging Technologies. “This significant investment further demonstrates our commitment to growing our capabilities and supporting the growth of our customers.”

Initial products manufactured in the new facility will be the components for Dow’s lead-free SOLDERON™ BP tin-silver, which includes low-alpha tin, and electroplating (EP) copper used in INTERVIA™ and ULTRALINK™ products for advanced chip packaging and ULTRAFILL™ and NANOPLATE™ products for semiconductor applications. The new facility adds to the capacity for metallization products already in place at the company’s Marlborough, MA, Sasakami, Japan, and Lucerne, Switzerland sites.

The raw material and manufacturing areas in the new facility will be constructed to specifications required to manufacture electronic-grade materials, and class 1000 and class 10 cleanroom spaces will be constructed for product packaging. In addition to manufacturing, the facility will include quality control and applications testing labs. The facility is expected to be operational in Q.2 of 2012, with ramp up of commercial volumes throughout 2012 as customer qualifications progress. The facility is expandable for future growth.

Chip packaging continues to be increasingly important in electronics, particularly mobile devices, as the demand for more functionality in the same or smaller footprint grows. 3D packaging, which allows multiple chips to be connected and stacked, is increasingly important because it delivers greater functionality and faster data transmission – all within the same compact space. 3D packaging requires high-performance metallization materials that are manufactured with tight quality specifications.

About The Dow Chemical Company

Dow (NYSE:DOW) combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2010, Dow had annual sales of $53.7 billion and employed approximately 50,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.