A Result of Aggressive Investment
SK Innovation has overtaken Samsung SDI in terms of electric vehicle (EV) battery market share for the first time.
SK Innovation's market share in the global EV battery market reached 3.5 percent in April, market research company SNE Research said on June 16. The figure was higher than Samsung SDI’s 3.4 percent. It was the first time that SK Innovation stood ahead of Samsung SDI in market share. In the same month of 2019, Samsung SDI led SK Innovation by 1.4 percentage points with a 3.5 percent share versus 2.1 percent.
The result was attributed to sluggish sales of Samsung SDI's main corporate customers in the wake of the new coronavirus infection spread. The use of Samsung SDI's EV batteries fell 41.1 percent on year, while the decline for SK Innovation was a mere 2 percent.
Industry insiders believe that this is the result of SK Innovation's active investment in EV batteries in recent years. Early this year, the company completed a battery plant with an annual capacity of 7.5 GWh in Komarom, Hungary, and Changzhou, China, respectively, and ramped up its overall production capacity to 19.7 GWh per year.
"It took time for SK Innovation's output increase to be reflected in its market share as market shares are calculated based on the amount of batteries loaded into EVs," said an industry insider. "The gap between the two companies may widen further as Samsung SDI has been conservative in investment while SK Innovation has been aggressive in expanding production facilities and improving their yield.”
In particular, SK Innovation is expected to further expand its market share in China, which recovered from the COVID-19 crisis ahead of others. Batteries produced by SK Innovation at its plant in Changzhou, China, will be used in China's BAIC’s premium brand “Arcfox.” The brand’s electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) Alpha-T is reportedly recording many orders in China.
In April, CATL came in first in the global EV battery market with a 34.9 percent share, followed by LG Chem with 18.2 percent, Panasonic with 13.4 percent and BYD with 10.2 percent. SK Innovation and Samsung SDI placed 5th and 6th, respectively. LG Chem alone grew 6.9 percent among the top 10 companies thanks to strong sales of Tesla's "Model 3.”
During the January-April period, LG Chem maintained the top spot with 25.5 percent, followed by Panasonic with 22.9 percent and CATL with 21.0 percent. Samsung SDI placed 5th with 5.6 percent and SK Innovation 7th with 4.2 percent.