(Dow Jones)Taiwan-based Sino-American Silicon Products Co. (SAS) announced Wednesday its acquisition of a semiconductor wafer business from a major Japanese semiconductor wafer manufacturer.

Doris Hsu, general manager of SAS, said the company’s board of directors approved the buyout at a price of 35 billion Japanese yen (US$457.187 million) from Covalent Materials and two subsidiaries, Covalent Silicon and Covalent Materials Sekikawa.

Covalent Materials, formerly Toshiba Ceramics, was established in 2007 when Toshiba Ceramics mangers established a new, independent company through a management buyout.

Following the latest SAS acquisition, the company’s semiconductor wafer output is expected to triple, to make it the sixth-largest manufacturer of its kind in the world, Hsu said.