NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. has raised the budget for its new lithium-ion battery electrolyte plant in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, from roughly ¥37.5bn to roughly ¥43.0bn, and pushed the commercial-operation date back to December 2028 from a previously planned July 2028 start.
| Metric | Previous Plan | Revised Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Investment amount | Approx. ¥37.5bn | Approx. ¥43.0bn |
| Commercial operation start | July 2028 (planned) | December 2028 (planned) |
| Construction start | January 2026 | January 2026 (unchanged) |
| METI subsidy ceiling | Up to ¥12.5bn | Up to ¥12.5bn (unchanged) |
The company said the launch delay stems mainly from a later-than-planned timeline for purchasing the land beneath the plant, separate from the cost pressures driving the budget increase. It attributed the higher price tag to rising prices for petroleum-linked and copper raw materials, a weaker yen that has inflated the cost of imported materials, and construction costs in western Japan that rose more than expected amid strong regional building demand.
None of that changes the public money attached to the project. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's plan for securing stable supplies of storage batteries and related materials, certified on September 6, 2024, still caps the subsidy tied to this project at ¥12.5bn.
The Kitakyushu plant sits on a roughly 65,000 square meter site and is designed to employ about 50 people while producing 3,000 tonnes a year of LiFSI, sold under Nippon Shokubai's IONEL® brand and used as an electrolyte salt in lithium-ion batteries. Construction is still scheduled to start in January 2026, unchanged from the earlier plan.
Nippon Shokubai first announced plans to build the domestic LiFSI plant in September 2024 and signed a site-location agreement in April 2025 before locking in these revised terms. The company said the revision will have only a minor effect on its results for the year ending March 2027. The filing does not put a number on that effect, and it does not name the land seller or explain why the acquisition slipped.