SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s SK Innovation Co Ltd said on Wednesday it will invest 1.2 trillion won ($1.04 billion) in a new battery factory in China.
The investment comes as global automakers shift to electric vehicles (EV) to comply with environmental regulations, leading to increasing demand for EV batteries.
The South Korean battery maker, which supplies electric car batteries to Ford Motor Co, Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor Co among others, has battery production sites in the United States, Hungary, China and South Korea.
SK Innovation did not provide details of its planned new battery factory in China.
In July, SK Innovation said it would aim to increase its annual battery production capacity to 200 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2025, up 60% from a previously announced goal of 125 GWh. Its current capacity is 40 GWh.
($1 = 1,158.6200 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Louise Heavens)
