outh Korea's Samsung SDI Co Ltd has signed a preliminary
agreement to build an electric car battery factory in China by next year, in
anticipation of a boom in a market backed by government subsidies.
Samsung SDI, which also makes smartphone batteries and TV
displays, is investing after China's central government set a target to have 5
million "new energy vehicles" - defined as all-electric battery
vehicles and "near all-electric" plug-in hybrids - on the road by
2020.