Japanese tech group Asahi Kasei will invest 30 billion yen (US$271 million) to expand its manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion battery separators, in response to “booming global demand in the battery market”.
Asahi Kasei will use the funds to increase production capacity by an additional 450 million square metres a year, taking the total capacity to 1.55 billion sq m, well beyond its target— stated in January 2018— of 1.1bn sq m by 2020.
The current 450m sq m expansion is scheduled for completion in mid 2021 across two factory sites— Moriyama in Japan and North Carolina in the US.
Meanwhile, Asahi Kasei has set a new target of extending its total manufacturing capacity to 3bn sq m per year by 2025.
The group produces both wet—Hipore— and dry—Celgard— process separators. It intends to expand Hipore production by 300m sq m per year, and Celgard production by 150m sq m.
Asahi Kasei serves customers in more than 100 countries, and counts manufacturer of lead-acid battery separators Daramic among its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
