Aggressive Investment in Korea
Toray President Akihiro Nikkaku said on October 19 that his company will invest one trillion won in South Korea until 2020 via its local subsidiaries.
According to the company’s investment plan, Toray Advanced Materials Korea invests 115 billion won (US$103 million) in the production of polypropylene spunbond nonwoven fabrics and 100 billion won (US$90 million) in its manufacturing plant located in the Saemangeum Industrial Complex, which was built last year, for an increase in the production of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resins and compounds. Once the facility expansion is completed, Toray’s annual PPS resin production capacity and compound production capacity increase by 18,600 tons and 6,600 tons, respectively.
Toray Battery Separator Film Korea, which produces lithium-ion battery separator membranes, made an investment of 110 billion won last year and increases its investment to 200 billion won this year. The company is planning to make a total investment of 400 billion won (US$360 million) in Korea until 2020. 150 billion won goes to coating capacity expansion in step with an increase in separator membrane production capacity.
Stemco, which produces chips on film (COFs), invests 235 billion won (US$211 million) to manufacture new COF products such as multilayer substrates, module boards and semiconductor substrates. A COF is a flexible substrate that has a PCB mounted a thin film and it is currently used in TVs, laptops, smartphones, etc.
The Toray Group, which is doing business in 25 countries around the world and has seven subsidiaries in South Korea, posted approximately two trillion yen in sales last year. The seven companies’ combined sales reached 2.8 trillion won (US$2.5 billion) during the same period. They are planning to boost their sales to at least five trillion won by 2020 by means of M&A as well as the execution of the investment projects.