(Yicai) July 23 -- Yuneng New Energy Battery Material said the Chinese company plans to invest MYR560 million (USD132.4 million) to build a lithium-iron phosphate cathode materials factory in Malaysia.

The plant will be located in Seremban, the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan, with an annual production capacity of 90,000 tons, Yuneng announced late yesterday. The project will take 15 months to build.

The investment plan is still pending approvals from Chinese, Malaysian, and Singaporean watchdogs, with construction to start after various necessary regulatory reviews, the Hunan province-based company noted, without disclosing further details.

The project will help Yuneng offer better services to member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reduce risks from international trade frictions on its businesses, and lift its global market share, according to the company.

Yuneng shipped around 710,600 tons of lithium-iron phosphate cathode materials in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, ranking top in China for the fifth straight year, according to its financial report. In addition, it revealed plans to build a plant with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons in Spain in April last year.

Lithium-iron phosphate cathode material shipments in China reached 2.46 million tons in 2024, accounting for almost 74 percent of the country's total shipments of cathode materials for lithium batteries, according to statistics from GGII Robotics Industry Research Institute.

Shares of Yuneng [SHE: 301358] rose 1.2 percent to CNY32.30 (USD4.50) apiece as of lunch break in Shenzhen today, after earlier jumping by as much as 2.9 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev