Press release

Sumitomo Chemical and Zymergen Announce Partnership to Develop Renewable Specialty Materials

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Sumitomo Chemical and Zymergen announced today they have signed a
multi-year partnership to bring new specialty materials to the market.
This collaboration between the two companies will enable the development
of new materials to meet consumer trends in high-tech industries.

Today, electronics makers and consumers seek devices that are lighter,
smaller, more battery efficient, have optimized displays, and new
functionality– all at a lower cost. Electronics manufacturers are
increasingly demanding next-generation materials for these
next-generation electronics because the current petrochemical toolbox is
limited, expensive, and difficult to manufacture.

In order to better meet these demands, Sumitomo Chemical has decided to
partner with Zymergen, whose mission is to build a sustainable future
through biology, to discover novel and improved molecules to bring to
market competitive, high-performance, specialty materials to better
serve the electronics industry and more. This partnership will leverage
Zymergen’s proprietary platform which combines advances in artificial
intelligence, robotic lab automation, and cutting-edge genomics, to
unlock previously inaccessible sources of molecular diversity based on
sustainable and renewable resources.

Sumitomo Chemical is a leading supplier to major electronics companies,
with approximately 20 percent of the company’s sales revenue in
IT-related chemicals. The company’s industry insight will ensure that
materials meet application requirements that will drive the next
generation of electronics products. Sumitomo Chemical brings access to
key markets, a reputation for quality and excellence, and the
applications knowledge to connect new materials to the best products.

Sumitomo Chemical and Zymergen will develop specialty materials that may
include optical films for displays, hard coatings that won’t scratch,
flexible electronics circuits and adhesive materials. These new
materials can help make next-generation, high tech products a reality
for consumers.

“We are honored to partner with Sumitomo Chemical and see this as an
opportunity to drive real innovation in the consumer electronics space,”
said Richard Pieters, President, Products at Zymergen. “This cooperation
unites the best of both worlds with Zymergen’s expertise exploring the
molecular diversity of biology to make new polymers and materials, and
Sumitomo Chemical’s technology leadership in serving the most demanding
markets and unique insights in next-generation materials.”

“Partnering with Zymergen combines our chemical technologies with their
expertise in molecular diversity of biology that will allow us to
develop high-performance materials to meet customer demand,” said
Hiroshi Ueda, Vice President at Sumitomo Chemical. “Through molecular
biology we will be able to deliver our customers performance
capabilities not previously possible by reliably and cost-effectively
engineering biology.”

Together, Sumitomo Chemical and Zymergen will work to develop new and
unique materials, making the impossible possible for the electronics
industry and beyond.

About Sumitomo Chemical Company Limited

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Sumitomo Chemical is one of Japan’s
leading chemical companies, offering a diverse range of products
globally in the fields of petrochemicals, energy and functional
materials, IT-related chemicals and materials, health and crop science
products, and pharmaceuticals. The company’s consolidated net sales for
fiscal year 2017 were JPY 2 trillion and number of employees is about
33,000 as of March 31, 2018. For additional information, visit the
company’s website at https://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/english/.

About Zymergen

Zymergen is the world’s first molecular manufacturing technology company
ushering in a new age of manufacturing and industrial innovation.
Zymergen, a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, leverages the power of
machine learning, automation, and bioengineering, to take a radically
different approach to improving the performance of materials and to
discovering new molecular products that touch every industry – from
agriculture to chemicals and materials, pharmaceuticals, and more. The
technology is in use today, creating value for Fortune 1000 companies
and major corporations across the globe. For more information visit https://www.zymergen.com.