Toray to invest $1 Bn in US expansion

Toray Group currently operates a wide range of businesses in the U.S. including fibres and textiles, plastic resins, films, carbon fibre composite materials and water treatment. With the U.S. expected to regain its industrial competitiveness on the back of shale gas/oil revolution and the resulting revival in manufacturing, Toray has considered it a key market for its business expansion given high demands for advanced materials in the aircraft and energy-related industries. In addition, the U.S.’s importance as an access point to Latin America, including Mexico and Brazil, whose economies are expected to grow in future is increasing. 

Toray plans to actively invest its management resources in the acquired land to make it its advanced material business base. In the carbon fibre composite material business, in which demand is expected to grow for high-performance, high-quality carbon fibre TORAYCA? in aircraft and natural gas pressure vessel applications, Toray has already been considering a plan to newly build an integrated high-performance carbon fibre production facility that covers from raw material fibre (precursor) spinning to carbonisation as well as a production facility for TORAYCA? prepreg, a TORAYCA?-based intermediate material which is a carbon fibre sheet impregnated in resin. The company plans to accelerate the expansion of the business in the U.S. by making roughly 100 billion yen (about US$1 billion) worth of investments by 2020. 

Under the new medium-term management program “Project AP-G 2016” to be launched in April 2014, Toray Group sets a basic strategy of business expansion in growth fields and growth regions. Particularly in pursuit of business expansion of growth countries and regions, Toray is upgrading its Asia and Emerging Country Business Expansion (AE) Project under “Project AP-G 2013” into the Asia, America and Emerging Country Business Expansion (AE-II) Project by adding Americas to it. By doing so, the group will proactively accelerate its business expansion also in North and Latin Americas without limiting the expansion being implemented in Asia and emerging countries. The acquisition of the new commercial land announced this time is very much a part of this AE-II Project.