Taiwan’s First Subsea Power Cable Factory Breaks Ground

Manufacturing

September 28, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

NKT and Walsin Lihwa have held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Kaohsiung Submarine Cable Factory, the first subsea power cable factory in Taiwan, expected to be fully operational in 2027.

In February of this year, the Denmark- and Taiwan-based companies announced that they were forming a joint venture that would facilitate the construction of the factory. The following month, NKT and Walsin Lihwa signed the necessary agreements for the establishment of the joint venture and associated service and technology licensing agreements.

The partnership between the two companies involves Walsin investing 2.7 billion NTD (approximately EUR 80 million) to establish Walsin Energy Cable System Co. Ltd (Walsin Cable), in which Walsin Lihwa holds a 90 per cent and NKT a 10 per cent stake. For the construction and operation of the factory, the companies have signed three agreements: a joint venture agreement, a technology licence agreement and a technology consultancy agreement.

Under the joint venture agreement, NKT is providing technical support for the construction of the factory and the Danish cable company’s technology is licensed to the joint venture company, Walsin Lihwa, under the licence agreement.

While NKT will own a share of the joint venture and act as the technical partner, the construction of the factory itself will not include investments from the cable manufacturer. Once the factory is in operation, NKT will generate revenue based on a royalty scheme and dividend from the joint venture, according to information the companies shared earlier this year.

The factory is located in the Kaohsiung Port’s Intercontinental Container Center Phase I area and occupies a site of 70,751 square metres, with the main factory building area being approximately 18,098 square metres.

Expected to be completed in 2025 and start full production in 2027, after first performing trial runs, the Kaohsiung Submarine Cable Factory will specialise in the production of high- and medium-voltage AC subsea power cables for the offshore wind market.