On August 19, Gaianixx, a Japanese chip material startup spun off from the University of Tokyo, is accelerating its capacity expansion to meet the growing demand for chip materials driven by the AI boom. Kento Nakao, co-founder and CEO of Gaianixx, stated that the company plans to expand production capacity at its technology center in Yamanashi Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, which currently has an annual processing capacity of 15,000 8-inch wafers. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Nakao revealed that the most advanced project may enter the trial production phase by the end of this year. He also mentioned that Japanese and overseas customers have already committed to using Gaianixx materials for device development. This expansion comes at a time when chip manufacturers are seeking to enhance performance through advanced materials, as the traditional upgrade path of shrinking transistor sizes has hit a bottleneck. Gaianixx sees this as an opportunity for Japan.