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.

The lead in this issue’s feature is Artificial Intelligence (AI), and while that term might seem to be a distant concept, one with a cringe-factor, that’s not necessarily the case.