A trial production was recently launched at the SK lithium battery cathode material manufacturing base, which is expected to produce 9,600 tons of lithium battery cathode materials annually, with an annual output value of 670 million yuan ($ 110 million) and generating tax revenue of 56 million yuan.
SK Holding, a Fortune 500 company, has invested $100 million to build the base, which covers an area of nearly 6.67 hectares.
An official with the administration committee of Liangjiang New Area said that the base will greatly assist the development of the automobile and IT industries in the Liangjiang New Area.
The base is a key project in new energy high-end functional materials, and it is expected to provide powerful engines for Liangjiang's strategic emerging industries such as new energy cars and laptops.
Liangjiang is expected to manufacture a total of three to five million vehicles by 2020, including more than 1.5 million electrical vehicles. The value of the batteries market - associated with green cars - is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan, and Chongqing is aiming to build the world's largest laptop production base that will produce 100 million laptops and create a battery business worth 80-billion-yuan.
SK Holding is the third largest transnational enterprise in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Its two pillar industries are energy and chemicals - and it also focuses on information and communication. The company, with an annual revenue of $ 80.8 billion, ranked 57th in the 2013 Fortune Global 500.
The base is SK Holding's first project in west China, and the company also has a large presence in the China-Korea Industrial Park in the Liangjiang New Area.
SK Holding said that "cooperation between China and the ROK has expanded from coastal areas to inland areas of China, and it now also includes advanced industries, in addition to foreign trade."
John Edwards, the UK trade commissioner for China, praised Chongqing over its rise as a burgeoning center in intelligent manufacturing.