Asahi Kasei will increase production capacity for Celgard™ and Hipore™ Li-ion battery (LIB) separator* at its plants in North Carolina, the US, and Shiga, Japan, respectively.

With increasing demand for electric-drive vehicles worldwide, the LIB market is forecasted to grow substantially in automotive applications. Asahi Kasei holds a world-leading position as an LIB separator manufacturer, supplying both dry-process and wet-process separators with its Celgard™ and Hipore™ products. Dry-process manufacturing plants are located in the US (North Carolina) while wet-process manufacturing plants are located in Japan (Moriyama, Shiga, and Hyuga, Miyazaki) and Korea (Chungbuk). The expansions announced today are part of a proactive expansion of the LIB separator business, in line with the company’s plans to raise total capacity to 1,100 million m²/year by 2020 as announced in May 2016.

Outline of the new capacity expansions

Dry process

Location

North Carolina, the US

Product

Celgard™ LIB separator

Capacity

150 million m²/year

Start-up

Second half of fiscal 2018 (scheduled)

Wet process

Location

Moriyama, Shiga, Japan

Product

Hipore™ LIB separator

Capacity

90 million m²/year

Start-up

First half of fiscal 2020 (scheduled)

Total investment for both wet and dry process expansions will be approximately ¥7.5 billion.

When completed, the above expansions will raise Asahi Kasei’s total LIB separator capacity to 1,100 million m²/year, with dry-process capacity increasing to 400 million m²/year and wet-process capacity increasing to 700 million m²/year. The company will continue to further reinforce its capability to provide stable supply to meet rising global demand for LIB separators in accordance with customer needs.