Three Key Companies' R&D Budget Tops KRW2tn in 2022
Samsung SDI invested a record high of 877.6 billion won in R&D last year, up 8.57 percent from a year ago. In 2021, the R&D investment of LG Energy Solution was 631.1 billion won and SK Innovation increased its R&D investment by 43.29 percent to 363.4 billion won.
This year, the three companies’ total R&D investment is estimated to exceed two trillion won. Samsung SDI is currently leading the investment and this company developed a pouch-type lithium battery and a round lithium battery for use in electric vehicles and energy storage systems last year.
LG Energy Solution’s electric vehicle battery patents are more than 25,000 in number. Last year, it developed an all-solid-state battery technology for durability enhancement, enabling quick charging at room temperature.
SK Innovation developed a battery metal recycling technique and the Argonne National Laboratory recognized it last year as a highly effective solution to greenhouse gas emissions. With this technique, lithium is extracted from a waste battery in the form of lithium hydroxide and then nickel, cobalt and manganese extraction is conducted.