Battery maker SK Innovations has begun operations at its separator factory in Changzhou, China, via its wholly owned electric vehicle battery material subsidiary SK IE Technology (SKIET).
The plant is the first time the Korean company’s subsidiary has opened an ‘overseas’ production base.
“The Changzhou plant will allow the company to react more swiftly to growing demand for separators in China, which accounts for half of the global EV market,” a company official told media outlet The Korean Herald.
The plant has an annual production capacity of 340 million square meters, which will ramp up the subsidiary’s total capacity to 870 million square meters.
Additional plants in Poland and China will increase that figure to 1.87 billion square meters by 2023.
SK IE Technology was launched officially in April last year with the plan to become a global material solution provider that offers lithium-ion battery separators.
