Japanese Sumco, a silicon wafer joint venture between Mitsubishi Materials and Sumitomo, has announced that it will boost its monthly capacity of 300mm silicon wafers to 700,000 units by April 2008, one year ahead of schedule. As reported in Asia Express on October 21, 2005, the company originally planned to reach this capacity by April 2009, but stronger than expected demand has prompted Sumco to move this date one year forward.