S. Korea’s Iljin Materials invests RM2.2bil in Sama Jaya Free Trade Zone

KUCHING: South Korea’s Iljin Materials Co Ltd will invest RM2.2bil in manufacturing facilities to produce copperfoil for batteries in the Sama Jaya Free Trade Zone here.

The batteries will be used in smartphones and electric vehicles, according to Sarawak Industrial and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

The approved Iljin Materials’ project is the latest high-value, hightech investment in the Sama Jaya High Tech Park, which is home to the manufacturing plants of several multinational corporations.

Iljin Materials announced recently that its proposed plant in Malaysia is expected to be completed in the second-half of 2018.

The plant would churn out 10,000 tonnes of elecfoil per year – a core material for electric vehicle rechargeable batteries.

This would boost the company’s annual production to 24,000 tonnes from the current 14,000 tonnes (elecfoil is a thin copper foil with a thickness of 10 micrometers or less).

Awang Tengah said the cumulative investments by hi-tech companies in Sama Jaya had exceeded RM12bil.

“In 2017, total exports from the SamaJaya high-tech park had reached RM3.2bil from RM2.7bil in 2016.

“It is expected to hit the RM4.5bil mark by the end of the year when LONGi goes into full production,” he said at the launch of LONGi Kuching by chief minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg here yesterday.

LONGi Kuching is China-based Xi’an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp’s first overseas operation.

Awang Tengah said some of the products from Sama Jaya were found in global brands such as Apple, Samsung and BMW.

He said X-Fab, another company in Sama Jaya, produced chips primarily used in the European automotive sector, notably in most major European car brands.

Meanwhile, LONGi Kuching is expected to get a major boost in the export of solar panels when its expansion at the Sama Jaya Free Trade Zone comes on stream in the next few months.

Group chairman Zhong Baoshen said LONGi Kuching currently shipped its products in 150 containers monthly to the United States, Canada and Europe, and also imported raw materials in 200 containers monthly.

“The numbers are expected to increase exponentially in the second half of this year,” he said at the launching ceremony.

The LONGI group is the world’s largest manufacturer of solar-grade mono-crystalline silicon products.

Since its establishment in January 2016, Zhong pointed out that LONGi Kuching had acquired three companies and expanded continuously.

The companies are US-based SunEdison, which owns a silicon wafer production facility, Comtec Solar International Sdn Bhd, a pureplay mono-crystalline solar ingot and wafer manufacturer and printed circuit boards producer Sanmina-SCI Corp (M) Sdn Bhd.

The old Sanmina factory was converted for solar production.

Zhong said that LONGi Kuching had established a complete monocrystalline photovoltaic industrial chain manufacturing project.

The Kuching integrated plant produces solar ingots, wafers, cells and modules.

LONGi Kuching also made several major investments in 2016.

This included the construction of new manufacturing facilities – a silicon ingot plant, solar wafer plant, passivated emitter rear cell solar cell plant, as well as high-performance module plant.

The plants started operations last year, thus making the company an integrated solar plant operator.

Under its expansion project this year, the company is expected to raise the ingot plant’s capacity from 300MW to 1GW in third-quarter 2018.