Expansion of lithium battery materials in Japan and South Korea speeds up

The global power lithium battery production is entering the TWh era, and the upstream lithium battery materials field has also entered the expansion track. According to foreign media reports, Asahi Kasei announced that it will increase the production capacity of its lithium-ion battery separators, investing 30 billion yen (approximately RMB 1.8 billion) to build a new plant in Miyazaki Prefecture with a planned annual output of 350 million square meters. The project is planned to be Start in the first half of 2023. Asahi Kasei’s products include wet-process and dry-process membranes. Wet-process membranes are produced at its Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture and Hyuga City, Miyazaki Plants, and dry-process membranes are produced at its North Carolina plant in the United States. The current output is approximately 1.1 billion square meters. . At the same time, Asahi Kasei is also expanding the production of its Shiga County and US plants. After the expansion of the two plants, the annual production capacity of 1.55 billion square meters will be formed. Together with the construction of a new plant in Miyazaki Prefecture, the annual production of Asahi Kasei's diaphragm will increase to 1.9 billion square meters after all the above projects are put into operation. Asahi Kasei is the world's leading manufacturer of lithium-ion battery separators, and an important supplier to Panasonic. Asahi Kasei's large-scale expansion of production is important to meet the rising demand for separators from corporate customers to expand battery production, and to consolidate and enhance its share and position in the global separator market. In fact, in addition to Asahi Kasei, companies including Sumitomo Metal, Mitsubishi Chemical, Pohang Chemical, EcoProBM, Lu0026F, BASF, Umicore, Johnson Matthey, EcoGraf, SKNexilis, Nissin Copper Foil and other companies are currently actively expanding their The output of positive electrode, negative electrode, separator, electrolyte and copper foil meets the rising market demand. The projects invested and constructed by the above companies generally accurately support the construction of their important power lithium battery customer projects, with the purpose of providing nearby supporting services and enhancing their global market competitiveness. At present, China, Japan and South Korea battery giants and international OEMs, including CATL, Panasonic, LG Energy, Samsung SDI, SKI, Tesla, Volkswagen, GM, Daimler, etc., are actively investing in the construction of power lithium battery projects around the world . In order to meet the expansion needs of the aforementioned companies, the expansion of the supporting materials field has been urgent, and the head material company has become the main force for expansion. It is worth noting that as more and more Chinese lithium battery material companies have entered the supply chain of Japanese and Korean battery giants, in order to meet the needs of their international customers to expand production, they have also become a Chinese lithium battery material company by setting up factories overseas to provide nearby supporting services. The inevitable choice to enhance international competitiveness. At present, domestic lithium battery materials companies including Xinzhoubang, Tianci Materials, Shida Shenghua, Kodali, Xingyuan Materials and other lithium battery materials companies have established factories in Europe. It is expected that more Chinese lithium battery materials companies will enter Europe in the future, and Japan and South Korea lithium battery Material giants compete.