UPDATE 2-Matsushita to spend over $950 mln on battery plant
(Recasts with source-based confirmation, updates stock price)
TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (6752.T) will invest more than 100 billion yen ($950 million) to build a lithium-ion battery plant in Japan to meet robust demand for their use in electronic devices, company sources said on Thursday.
The plant would be one of the world's biggest lithium-ion battery factories and help Matsushita to roughly triple its lithium-ion battery output capacity, the sources said.
Matsushita competes with Sanyo Electric Co Ltd (6764.T) and Sony Corp (6758.T) in the rechargeable battery industry, where demand is growing as global sales of battery-run mobile gear such as cellphones, digital cameras and laptop PCs expand.
The maker of Panasonic brand goods aims to start operating the new plant as early as 2010, the sources added.
Matsushita spokesman Akira Kadota said the company was considering various possibilities to spur growth in its electronics business but that nothing had been decided.
Shares in Matsushita were 0.5 percent higher at 2,215 yen in afternoon trade, compared with a 0.9 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi and Kentaro Hamada; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
