Hexcel Corporation, a leading advanced structural materials company, announced its plan to expand its carbon fiber production capacity with investment of 180 million dollars, aiming to complete construction within two years.  The expansion is through the addition of both new carbon fiber lines and a new precursor line, which increases Hexcel's nominal carbon fiber production capacity by approximately 70% to a total of about 16 million pounds (7300 tons). The expansion is necessary to meet the requests of existing customers in the areas of commercial aerospace, as well as space and defense, and for the needs of special industrial applications.

The company has announced its plan to build a new prepreg plant at the Xiqing Economic Development Area (XEDA) in Tianjin, China.  The new facility is intended to meet the strong demand for composites used in wind turbines since China announced its plan to double the amount of energy it obtains from renewable re-sources by 2020, which brought about the decision to establish new wind power plants in the country.

With the support of XEDA Administrative Committee, Hexcel has secured a site with a total floor area of 30,000m2 close to major wind power plants in XEDA to build a factory to manufacture HexPly epoxy resin prepregs from summer 2008. It is primarily for wind energy and industrial applications. Prepreg is a fiber-reinforced resin system that can be used under high heat and pressure with very high strength, and widely used in the wind energy industry.