Kobe Steel Ltd. said Monday it has established a wholly owned company in China's Jiangsu Province to process copper sheet to meet expanding demand for electronic application usage.
Suzhou Kobe Copper Technology Co., located in the city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, will have a slitting capacity of 600 metric tons per month. Starting its operation next spring 2006 with 40 employees, the Chinese company is expected to produce over 6,000 metric tons per year with sales of roughly 4 billion yen by 2009-2010, Kobe Steel said.
Demand for copper sheet for electronic applications is growing in Shanghai and southern China due to a sharp increase in car production as well as the recent establishment of semiconductor plants there.
Kobe Steel has been making master copper coils in wide widths and slitting them at its Chofu plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Chinese subsidiary will keep an inventory of wide-width coils made at the Chofu plant, enabling it to quickly and flexibly respond to the needs of Chinese customers, Kobe Steel said.