[SMM Aluminum Express News] Assan Alüminyum has acquired an aluminum foil facility in West Virginia through Kibar Americas, marking its entry as a local producer in the United States. The move strengthens its global footprint and competitiveness, aligning with its strategy focused on sustainability, digitalization, and international expansion. Strategically, the investment reflects a shift toward localized production amid changing global trade dynamics, while enhancing its ability to serve North American customers. The facility will produce foil for automotive, HVAC, packaging, and industrial applications, supporting expansion into key end-use markets.

According to ChinaIOL data, in 2025, China’s HVAC valve components industry as a whole tended to remain stable, with total domestic sales reaching 3.4 billion units. Compared with the same period last year, the increase was 1.0%.

Recently, the Datong-Tianjin South 1000-kilovolt UHV AC project, a key project in the national 14th Five-Year Plan for power development, has made a key breakthrough. Inside the 1000-kilovolt substation in Yangyuan County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, the steel structure main body of a 533-meter-long GIS (Gas Insulated Switchgear) workshop was fully capped. The completion of this "giant steel corridor" marks the completion of the construction of the core building of the UHV project, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent installation of electrical equipment and the full-line operation of the project.

【SMM Aluminium Flash News】According to foreign media reports, Vedanta has announced an investment of over 125 billion rupees to strengthen its metal manufacturing capabilities. This strategic initiative aims to strengthen the domestic supply of key materials necessary for electric vehicle production, meet the needs of India's rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) industry, and contribute to India's vision of sustainable and clean mobility. The investment involves projects such as expanding aluminum smelting operations, increasing the value-added of aluminum products, building a new zinc alloy plant, installing a zinc roaster, and expanding ferrochrome production capacity. Each initiative is designed to meet the specific material needs of electric vehicle manufacturers. Vedanta supplies key casting alloys for wheels, engine blocks, and cylinder heads, and also produces aluminum billets for battery housings, HVAC systems, and vehicle frames.

[World's Highest-Altitude UHVDC Transmission Project Fully Connected] In Yajiang County, Ganzi Prefecture, with the successful installation of the final section of the conductor, the world's highest-altitude UHVDC transmission project—the ±800 kV UHVDC transmission project from the upper reaches of the Jinsha River to Hubei—has been fully connected. The Jinsha River-to-Hubei UHVDC project is one of the major arteries of China's "West-to-East Electricity Transmission" initiative. The sending end of the project aggregates hydropower and new energy from the upper reaches of the Jinsha River, with two new converter stations constructed: Bangguo in Ganzi, Sichuan, and Kamai in Changdu, Tibet. The receiving end connects to the central China UHVAC backbone grid through the newly constructed Daye converter station in Hubei. The line spans four provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities)—Tibet, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Hubei—with a total length of 1,901 kilometers.

As a key material in fields such as aerospace, integrated circuits, and high-speed rail transportation, high-end copper alloys are increasingly prominent in their strategic position. Despite China's copper semis production and consumption ranking first globally for consecutive years, with a self-sufficiency rate of general copper semis as high as 96%, high-end copper alloy products still heavily rely on imports. To address this "chokepoint" challenge, SMM recently initiated an industry resource integration proposal, collaborating with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain as well as research institutions to meticulously produce the "2026 China Copper Alloy Materials Sourcing Guide" , aiming to advance the localisation process of high-end copper alloy materials and facilitate the transition from a "major material producer" to a "powerhouse in materials". This time, Jiangyin Bangda Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Fukun Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. actively participated in the joint production of the sourcing guide as partners, jointly promoting the healthy and rapid upgrading of China's copper alloy materials industry chain. Jiangyin Bangda Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. , as an R&D and innovation-oriented enterprise in nonferrous material processing, has always adhered to the philosophy of "treating others with sincerity and making commitments with quality". It is dedicated to the R&D, production, sales, and technical services of high-performance, high-precision beryllium copper alloy billets, wires, plates, and other advanced materials. As a professional supplier of beryllium copper alloy materials, the company has gathered a group of comprehensive talents with high quality, strong capabilities, and rich experience in production/R&D. Leveraging a profound understanding of copper alloy materials, the company continuously develops high-tech products and extends its product lines to different application fields. The company boasts advanced continuous production equipment with international standards, including high vacuum melting and casting, heavy-duty extrusion, vertical solution treatment, vacuum aging, and high-precision straightening, as well as manufacturing technologies with independent intellectual property rights. It is equipped with detection instruments such as spectrometers, universal testing machines, conductivity testers, hardness testers, metallographic microscopes, and ultrasonic flaw detectors. With an annual production capacity of 500 mt of high-performance copper alloy products, the company's product performance indicators reach leading levels and have passed relevant detection and certification. The company is always customer-oriented, accurately grasping market trends, adhering to a development model of technological leadership and scientific management, continuously promoting technological innovation, and sincerely hoping to establish friendly and in-depth cooperative relationships with a wide range of users, working hand in hand to create brilliance together! Main Products: C17200 high-strength rods and wires, C17300 free-cutting and polished rods, high-conductivity C17510 and C17500 beryllium copper billets. Contact Information Zhou Ziyang 151 5228 4228 Click here to receive the "2026 China Copper Alloy Materials Sourcing Guide" for free SMM Contact Person Bao Jinyong 131 5933 8158 baojinyong@smm.cn