SK Innovation will shell out $81 million for FCCL expansion

SK Innovation, the holding company of the nation’s top refiner, SK Energy, said yesterday it will invest 90 billion won ($81 million) to expand its production line of flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL).

The company said the second production line of FCCL in its plant in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong, will begin production next year. FCCL is a core component for flexible printed circuit boards used in smartphones and tablet PCs.

SK Innovation said FCCL sales grew 18 percent over the past year due to rising popularity of mobile devices and the market is expected to be 1 trillion won by 2015. SK Innovation started mass producing FCCL in August 2011 at its Jeungpyeong plant and was supplying Nippon Mektron, the world’s leading manufacturer of flexible printed circuit boards, just six months later. The company hopes to be the world’s No. 1 player in FCCL by 2020.