Asahi Kasei will invest in additional equipment for coating Hipore lithium-ion battery (LIB) separators.

New coating lines will be installed at existing Asahi Kasei LIB separator facilities in the Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, Hyuga, Miyazaki, Japan, and Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, South Korea, with start-up scheduled in succession from the first half of fiscal year 2026.

According to the release issued by the company, total investment on the expansion is estimated at ¥40 billion and the total coating capacity will be approximately 700 million m2/year.

Regarding the investment, Hiroyoshi Matsuyama, Senior Executive Officer and President of the Environmental Solutions Strategic Business Unit at Asahi Kasei, mentioned: “Expanding Hipore operations globally to keep pace with the electric vehicle market is an important milestone for our separator business. We are happy to support the growth of our customers abroad, and with the help of our established global locations, we can do that quickly by investing in existing infrastructure and then expanding further with new greenfield sites as needed to meet regional demand.”

Through this investment the company establishes the capability to supply coated separators for batteries equivalent to 1.7 million electric vehicles.

The expansion announced today will raise Asahi Kasei's coating capacity for LIB separators to approximately 1.2 billion m2/year, enabling the supply of coated separators for batteries equivalent to 1.7 million electric vehicles.

Asahi Kasei supplies two types of Hipore wet-process LIB separators: a polyolefin microporous base film membrane and a coated membrane separator produced by applying ceramic and other coatings to the base film.

Asahi Kasei will continue investing to build its LIB separator supply infrastructure for automotive applications to meet growing demand, especially in North America where significant expansion of electric vehicle production is forecasted.