To Invest KRW900bn to Build a 50,000-ton Plant
SKC announced on July 10 that SK Nexilis, a wholly owned subsidiary, held a groundbreaking ceremony for a copper foil plant at the E-Mobility Industrial Complex in Stalowa Wola of Poland on July 7 (local time).
SK Nexilis will invest a total of 900 billion won to complete the plant with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons by the first half of 2024. The plant will eclipse other copper foil plants in terms of production capacity. SK Nexilis is planning to start volume production in earnest in the second half of 2024 after test operation and verification by corporate customers.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by key Polish government figures including Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin, Korean Ambassador to Poland Lim Hoon, SKC president Park Won-chul, and SK Nexilis CEO Lee Jae-hong.
“I hope this project will create new jobs and promote the growth of Poland,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said in a video message.
SK Nexilis plans to boost its annual production capacity to 250,000 tons by 2024 by setting up production bases in Korea, Malaysia, Europe, and North America. It broke ground for a 50,000-ton plant in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia in July last year. The plant is now under construction with the aim of going live in 2023.
The rapid growth of the copper foil market is heating up competition among companies. In particular, Korea's leading conglomerates have jumped into a race to take over Iljin Materials, Korea's second-largest copper foil maker.
Lotte Chemical recently participated in a preliminary bid to take over Iljin Materials. As the company announced that it will invest four trillion won in the battery material business by 2030, the acquisition of Iljin Materials can create synergies with Lotte Chemical’s existing material business, analysts say.
Industry insiders do not rule out the possibility of LG Chem joining the hunt for Iljin Materials. POSCO is also known to have considered acquiring Iljin Materials at one time. Solus Advanced Materials, which is ranked ninth in terms of global market share, will start the construction of its plant in Canada in July and increase its existing production facilities in Hungary.