Sumitomo Electric Industries Plans 600B Yen Capex for F2008-2012

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) plans capital expenditure of total 600 billion yen for its new 5-year management plan starting April 2008. The capex will increase by 7.6% from the previous 5-year plan for fiscal 2003-2007 ending March 2008, including an estimated figure for fiscal 2007. SEI will focus the capex on telecommunication, electronics and energy related business fields for fiscal 2008-2012.SEI will focus the capex on cost reduction of optical fiber, output capacity expansion of optical fiber cable and optical components at overseas including China. In electronics related business fields, the firm will continue active investment for gallium nitride substrate, one of SEI’s strategic products, organize overseas production and sales bases of flexible printed circuit boards and launch new businesses such as water treatment system. In energy fields, SEI tries to expand offshore sales of high voltage power cables and high temperature superconducting cables. The firm will intend M&A in the USA and Asia in cases. The firm also plans to expand output of winding wire.For fiscal 2008-2012, SEI targets capex of 300 billion yen into overseas businesses and 130 billion yen into cultivation of new businesses. The firm has focused its capex on automobile related businesses for fiscal 2003-2007, which has accounted for 50-60% of total consolidated capex every year. The firm will distribute the capex among its 5 business segments along the next 5-year management plan, not emphasizing the auto related business segment.