LS Cable to build Korea’s tallest cable production tower, invest $161 million

LS Cable & System Ltd. is investing 185.9 billion won ($161 million) to expand its high-voltage underwater cable manufacturing facilities, including a high-rise cable production tower.

LS Cable, South Korea’s largest wire and cable manufacturer, said on July 25 that it will build a fourth plant with a floor space of 31,000 square meters in Donghae, a city in Gangwon Province. The construction of the new plant will start in October for completion in April 2023, it said.

Once completed, the company said its submarine cable production capacity will rise 50%. The expansion will also boost its revenue by 300 billion won, it said.

LS Cable, the world’s fourth-largest wire and cable maker, is among the few global cable makers that can make long-distance high-voltage submarine cables.

The company is known globally for its long-distance and high-pressure cables, giving it a key competitive edge in the growing underwater high-voltage cable market. Demand for such cables is rising at a fast rate as offshore wind farms are gaining momentum for the production of renewable energy to combat environmental pollutions.

“Our factory in Donghae is a technology-intensive workplace. We expect the new investment to also contribute to the national economy,” said Chief Executive Myung Roe-hyun.

HIGH-RISE CABLE TOWER

The company said its latest investment includes constructing a 172-meter high-voltage submarine cable production tower, which is as high as a 63-story building.

The tower will allow the company to manufacture lengthy cables in a single trunk to improve insulation quality and minimize the loss of power in transmission, according to LS Cable.

Most cable makers are producing tens of kilometers-long cables by connecting shorter ones (approximately 2 km long) to make it easier to replace a faulty section. Otherwise, the lengthy cables must be scrapped completely if any section has a problem in power transfer.

LS Cable is the only company in Korea that can make long-distance underwater cables with a length of more than 100 km.

Write to Su-Bin Lee at lsb@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.