Furukawa Electric to Expand Electrolytic Cu Foil Capacity by 50%

Furukawa Electric expands the output of electrolytic copper foil for lithium ion battery. The firm expands the monthly output capacity by around 50% to 7.5 million square meters by building new plant at Tochigi plant for maximum 10 billion yen starting operation in first half of 2010. The firm tries to meet higher demand for automobile applications through the expansion.

The firm, which has around 55% of world market share for electrolytic copper foil of lithium ion battery, eyes full capacity operation for the new plant with 2.5 million square meters of monthly output capacity in 2012 after new equipments including drum and slitters.

The firm operates the plant with 4.5 million square meters of monthly output capacity for high performance copper foil of lithium ion battery. The plant has still room for additional 10 lines for the foil.

The foil is used for negative electrode material of lithium ion battery. The battery’s demand is expected to increase for automobile while the battery is used for smaller products including cell phone and laptop computers.