By Li Panpan

China’s leading lithium-ion battery separator film producer Semcorp(恩捷股份), announced this week that it signed an agreement to supply approximately $687 million(EUR 655 million) of lithium battery isolation film products to France’s Automotive Cells Company SE(ACC) and it will invest $916 million in establishing a manufacturing facility in Ohio, U.S. to make separator film.

Founded in April 2006 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in August 2016, Semcorp, based in southern China’s Yunnan Province, is the largest lithium-ion battery separator film supplier in the world. Separator film is a critical component in batteries for electric vehicles. The company is also known as Yunnan Energy New Material Co., Ltd.

On May 4, Semcorp announced that its subsidiary, SEMCORP Hungary Kft, and French Automotive Cells Company SE (ACC) signed a supply agreement for lithium battery isolation film products. SEMCORP Hungary Kft will supply approximately EUR 655 million of lithium battery isolation film products to ACC from 2024 to 2030.

The subsidiary invested in the construction of a wet-process lithium battery separator production line in Debrecen, Hungary, in November 2020, with a total investment of $27.39 million(EUR183 million).

Only one day later, on May 5, Semcorp announced its subsidiary SEMCORP Manufacturing USA LLC would invest $916 million to establish a manufacturing facility in Sidney, Ohio, the U.S. creating nearly 1,200 jobs with $73 million in annual payroll.

The facility plans to build a base film production line and supporting coating equipment with a production capacity of 1 billion square meters to 1.2 billion square meters. Its products will be used by leading EV battery makers across North America.  

The company said that the investment met the growing demand for lithium battery separators in the North American market and would increase its operating income and profits.

SEMCORP is currently the largest lithium-ion battery separator film producer in the world, with five billion square meters in annual base film production capacity across six manufacturing facilities. The company plans to add an additional eight billion square meters in capacity within the next four years, including the Sidney site, with the primary objective of serving the booming EV market.