China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation has successfully produced China's first batch of large tow carbon fiber at the company's production base in Shanghai, making the company the first in the country and fourth in the world to possess large tow carbon fiber technology. Sinopec's production line has adopted its self-developed PAN (polyacrylonitrile) base large tow precursor and carbon fiber technologies. The project is being implemented in two phases and expects to be in full production in 2024, projecting an annual production capacity of 24,000 tons of protofilament and 12,000 tons of large tow carbon fiber.

Large tow carbon fiber refers to roving that contains 48,000 filaments or more. Sinopec now owns 251 patents related to carbon fiber and 46 patents for carbon fiber composite materials and through scaled up investment and industrial layout, Sinopec is committed to being a major contributor to the development of China's carbon fiber industry.