Ramping up Investment in EV Batteries

A view of SK Innovation's Battery Plant 1 under construction in Georgia, the U.S.

SK Innovation is ramping up investment in its battery business. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on May 28, SK Battery America, a U.S. subsidiary of SK Innovation, had 414.5 billion won in assets as of the end of March. On top of that, SK Innovation has recently decided to borrow an additional 557 billion won from multiple financial institutions. Industry experts believe that the company has already invested at least one trillion won in its U.S. battery business.


SK Innovation has announced that it will invest a total of 2 trillion won in SK Battery America by 2024. Including this, SK Innovation plans to invest a total of 3 trillion won to build its first and second U.S. plants.

The 3 trillion won investment plan is half of the US$5 billion investment project envisioned by SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won.

SK Innovation will secure an annual production capacity of 9.8 GWh through its first plant and 11.7 GWh through its second plant.

The company is expanding its production bases not only in the U.S. but in Europe, China and Korea. Its goal is to become one of the world's leading producers of electric vehicle batteries with an annual production capacity of 100 GWh by 2025.

Although SK Innovation suffered operating losses of more than 1.7 trillion won in the first quarter alone due to the novel coronavirus spread, it is carrying out its investment plans as announced. "Our annual investment budget is about 4 trillion won, and 60 percent of it will go into batteries and materials," SK Innovation said in a recent conference call that followed the announcement of its first-quarter earnings.

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