(Yicai Global) March 25 -- Guangdong Jiayuan Technology will invest up to CNY1 billion (USD157.1 million) to construct a electrolytic copper foil plant, its third plan to increase production in eighteen months, to meet surging demand from its electric car battery and printed circuit board clients.

The new factory, to be located at its production base in Ganzhou, eastern Jiangxi province, will have an annual capacity of 15,000 tons of copper foil, Jiayuan said yesterday. No start date for construction has been set yet. Unit Jiangxi Jiayuan Technology will be responsible for the project, it added, without going into further details.

Jiayuan supplies 50 percent of the world’s 4.5 micron extremely-fine copper foil used in lithium-ion batteries. The Meizhou, southern Guangdong province-based firm has been rolling out new projects to hike capacity recently as demand surges on strong sales of new energy vehicles.

It is the second copper foil production facility the company announced to build in Ganzhou,  the company said in November 2020 that it plan to construct a 20,000-ton copper foil facility costing CNY1.4 billion (USD220 million) in the city, which is still under construction at present.

Jiayuan is also spending CNY1.2 billion to build a factory with an annual output of 15,000 tons of copper foil in Fu’an, a city near Ningde in southeastern Fujian province where battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology is based. Announced in October 2020, the plant is set to be finished within three years.

The company already own two copper foil production bases in Guangdong province, with the total annual output capability is expected to increase to 52,000 tons by the end of this year, according to the company’s website.

Jiayuan’s share price [SHA:688388] closed down 2.93 percent at CNY89.44 (USD14) today.

Editor: Kim Taylor