Hyundai Hysco Co., a steelmaking affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said Monday that it will invest 98.8 billion won ($91.3 million) to build a plant that will produce high-strength auto steel sheets.

The plant to be located in Yesan, 134 kilometers south of Seoul, will produce steel sheets by using hot-stamping, a technique that applies special pressing and cooling simultaneously, thereby making them stronger than other conventional products.

The technique helps reduce the amount of materials needed to make high-strength steel sheets for vehicles, which eventually helps cut costs and lightens the overall weight of car bodies.

Hyundai Hysco already runs such factories in Ulsan and Dangjin in South Korea and Tianjin, China. It is also building another one in Yesan, near where the new factory will be located.

When the two factories are completed, Hyundai Hysco said that it will be able to produce a total of 35.8 million sheets of hot-stamping steel per year, up from the current 21.4 million.

Hyundai Hysco supplies specialized steel products for the country's top two automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. (Yonhap)