LS Group announced on Dec. 28 that it plans to invest over 2 trillion won to venture into the secondary battery materials sector. LS Corporation, the holding company, and its subsidiary, LS MnM, is set to embark on the construction of production facilities for secondary battery materials in earnest this year at the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex in North Jeolla Province and the Onsan National Industrial Complex in Ulsan.
Chairman Koo Ja-eun revealed plans earlier this year to position LS Group as a key player leading in Carbon-free Energy (CFE) and future industries as part of the group’s growth strategy, known as “Vision 2030.” Boldly stepping into industries related to batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors, the group aims for more than twofold growth by 2030 through CFE initiatives.
LS Group’s major subsidiaries are leveraging their experience in power infrastructure and comprehensive energy solutions to continuously explore and pursue new business opportunities in areas such as battery materials; electric vehicle components and charging solutions; and environmentally friendly energy.
LS Cable & System has achieved a groundbreaking development by introducing an innovative material that utilizes copper fragments instead of copper wires as the raw material for copper foil, making it the first of its kind. “CuFlake” is designed to reduce manufacturing costs by streamlining the raw material processing steps in the production of copper flakes.
LS Materials, a subsidiary of LS Cable & System, is a leading company in the market for ultra capacitors (UC), also known as “next-generation secondary batteries.” From its debut on the KOSDAQ on Dec. 12, the company has achieved significant success, recording a fourfold increase compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price.
LS e-Mobility Solutions, the electric vehicle component subsidiary of LS Electric, is expanding its presence in the North American electric vehicle market by establishing its second production base in Mexico, following its operations in China. The company plans to build a production facility with a floor area of 35,000 square meters in Durango by the end of this year. Starting next year, it aims to establish a mass production system for key electric vehicle components such as EV relays and battery disconnect units (BDU).
Non-ferrous metal material company LS MnM has initiated its electric vehicle battery material business by completing the construction of a nickel sulfate plant in March. The plant was established in collaboration with Toricom, an investor in LS MnM. Nickel sulfate is a crucial material for the next-generation electric vehicle batteries.
In October, LS MnM announced an investment of 670 billion won (US$520 million) in the “EVBM Onsan” project, which aims to produce secondary battery materials on a 95,000 square meter site adjacent to the Onsan Refinery in Ulsan. In November, the company revealed plans to invest 1.16 trillion won in building a 40,000-ton nickel sulfate complex factory at the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex. With these two phases of investment, LS MnM aims to produce approximately 62,000 tons of nickel sulfate, derived from nickel metal, by 2029. This quantity is equivalent to the demand for electric vehicles, estimated at around 1.25 million units.