(Yicai Global) May 17 -- SK Innovation will invest KRW580 billion (USD485.7 million) in a new battery production base on the site of its current Chinese factory in Changzhou, eastern Jiangsu province.

The Seoul-based energy giant is building the facility in response to growing orders globally, it said in a statement. SK will open a local investment firm to handle the plant's planning with land area, size and other details yet to be confirmed. 

SK Innovation opened the 300,000-square-meter Changzhou plant last August in partnership with Beijing Automotive and Beijing Electronics Holdings. It produces 7.5 gigawatt-hours annually.

The firm supplies 430GWh in total to US, Chinese and European carmakers as of the end of March, 13 times that of late 2016. It plans to invest heavily in the US, China, Hungary and other major regions to ensure a total output of 60GWh by 2022. 

Editor: William Clegg