Japan Investment Corp (JIC), a Japanese state-backed fund, plans to sell chipmaking materials maker JSR to Mitsui Chemicals in a deal that could exceed 1.3 trillion yen ($8.2 billion), after buying it for some 900 billion yen two years ago, taking advantage of higher chip-firm valuations on the artificial intelligence investment boom, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters, in a text republished by DealStreetAsia.

Founded in 1957, JSR is a leading manufacturer of photoresists used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and Nikkei Asia notes that the sale would be the biggest deal in the history of Japan’s chemical sector.