9 December, 2011

ABB will invest over $ 400 million to double the capacity of its high-voltage cables manufacturing facility in Karlskrona, Sweden, to meet growing demand for subsea cables. The investment plan includes construction of new buildings and installation of additional manufacturing lines at the existing plant. The expansion will be carried out

in a phased manner and is expected to be completed by 2015.

This move follows an investment of about $90 million announced last year to build a new cable factory in the US for land cables used in alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) applications. A major upgrade of ABB’s Karlskrona facility has already been completed earlier this year. The new investment will further strengthen ABB’s leading position in the high-voltage cables market.

ABB has been manufacturing cables for more than a 100 years and is a leading global supplier of high voltage, energy-efficient transmission cables. The company’s offering includes XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) insulated cables for AC transmission as well as mass-impregnated paper-insulated cables and polymeric insulated cables for HVDC, HVDC Light® and other high-voltage power transmission applications.