NEC Corporation announced that it has been tabbed by the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) Consortium as a supplier for a high-performance submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

A press release said that the NEC will construct the 9,400-km ADC cable, which is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022. The cable will feature multiple pairs of high capacity optical fibers and is designed to carry more than 140 Tbps of traffic, enabling high capacity transmission of data across the East and Southeast Asian regions. ADC’s high capacity allows it to support increasingly bandwidth-intensive applications which are driven by technological advancements in 5G, the cloud, the Internet-of-Things and Artificial Intelligence. This will further enhance the expansion of communications networks in the region.

ADC, a global consortium of leading communications and technology companies, includes CAT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT Inc., Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel.“The ADC system provides the highest cable capacity and necessary diversity for Asia’s key information hubs, which will enable carriers and service providers to better plan their networks and services for a sustainable development,” said China Telecom’s Chang Weiguo, one of the ADC Co- Chairs.

“This new system will contribute to drive the Asian ICT business growth as one of the core infrastructures in the region and to meet the evolving marketplace,” said ADC Co-Chair Koji Ishii of SoftBank. “As a leading submarine cable system vendor, NEC has successfully provided many trans-Asia submarine cable systems, making the company the most reliable choice for the ADC supply partner.”

“As the supplier of the ADC Cable, NEC continues to support critical infrastructure in Asia,” said Atsushi Kuwahara, General Manager, Submarine Network Division, NEC Corporation. “This advanced optical fiber submarine cable system will provide seamless connectivity to the countries it lands in and the regions it services.”

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has won a government contract that was valued at approximately $82 million to supply both low-voltage and high-voltage power cable to Singapore.

A press release said that LS C&S will supply 400 km of cable though to 2021.The orders were from the Singaporean government, which has been replacing aged cables since 2017. LS C&S noted that has a strong foothold in Singapore, obtaining the biggest market share there. Raising transparency in operation and management of its business there, and active technological support for the past several years, led to winning the deal, it said.

“To overcome the global economic slowdown and the limited domestic demand, we have established a strong foothold overseas as a global company,” LS C&S President and CEO Myung Roe-hyun said. “This deal is a valuable achievement based on past efforts at a difficult time due to the Covid-19 crisis.”
In other news, LS C&S reported that it has begun to ship submarine cable for Taiwan’s offshore wind farms. Last year, it won an order to supply the high-voltage cable for the first offshore wind farm project being built in Taiwan. Some 70 km of cables will need to be installed for the site, which is located off the coast of Yunlin Xian in the west of Taiwan.

Copperweld Group, Inc., announced the acquisition of Seminole Wire & Cable Co., Inc., a New Jersey-based supplier of specialty wire and cable products.

A press release said that the addition of Seminole “brings key value-added wire extrusion and other manufacturing capabilities in-house for Copperweld and ultimately takes the Copperweld brand directly to the end customer. Seminole also bolsters Copperweld’s wire finishing processes including cabling, braiding and assembly.” Copperweld will also leverage Seminole’s R&D team to promote quicker new product development and new advanced testing processes.

Partnering with Seminole will allow Copperweld to have more direct relationships and interaction with end users, ultimately allowing us to better serve our customers,” said Copperweld CEO Craig York. He added that it will also enable Copperweld will be able to offer bimetallic solutions to many Seminole customers currently using alternative products, “as Copperweld bimetallics can offer better form, fit and function.”

Copperweld, a supplier of bimetallic wiring products and the only domestic producer of copper clad steel (CCS) and copper clad aluminum (CCA) wire, was acquired in 2019 by Kinderhook Industries, LLC, a private investment firm that manages over $3.1 billion of committed capital “This strategic transaction provides upstream manufacturing capabilities that will support Copperweld production across multiple product lines as the business continues to grow” said Kinderhook Managing Director Paul Cifelli. “We look forward to seeing Copperweld leverage Seminole’s expertise in these production areas.”

Cifelli told WJI that Michael Genzel will continue to serve as president of Seminole Wire & Cable Co., Inc.

U.K.-based Primetals Technologies announced that it has signed a contract to supply three high-speed wire rod mills to a Chinese customer seeking to expand its capacity.

Per a press release, the deal for the single-strand, high-speed wire rod mills will include three Morgan Vee Mini-Blocks as mini-finishing mills (MFM). They will have three sets of Morgan Intelligent Pinch Rolls and high-speed laying heads, hydraulic systems and oil lube systems. Two mills will have a two-stand 230 MFM and the third will have a two-stand 250 MFM. Primetals Technologies will also supply air/oil systems for a snap shear and rollerized turndown.

Each of the three mills will have an annual production capacity of 720,000 metric tons and a maximum operating speed of 115 mps, a maximum rolling rate of 150 metric tons per hour. The mills will produce rod ranging from 5.5 to 20 mm and 20 to 28 mm in diameter, rebar of 6 to 16 mm in diameter, and coil with an inner diameter of 850 mm and an outer diameter of 1,250 mm.

“The new mills improved thermo-mechanical rolling capabilities will complement additional mills moving into the company’s main production base,” the release said. Start-up is scheduled to be completed this year. The customer, which was not named, was described as one of the largest raw material sup-pliers for fasteners in northern China. It also produces welding wire and carbon structural grades.