Samsung SDI selects battery material supplier in the USA
The South Korean battery manufacturer has selected Lotte Energy Materials as its exclusive supplier of copper foil for its US battery factory. This is the battery factory that is still under construction in the state of Indiana and will be jointly operated with Stellantis.
Once the factory is complete, the partners plan to launch with an initial annual capacity of 23 gigawatt-hours, before later increasing the capacity to 33 GWh. For a capacity of 33 GWh, the publication kedglobal estimates a required amount of 16,500 to 19,800 tons of copper foil. The publication estimates that this would be worth between 100 billion to 300 billion won ($75 million to $225 million) annually, depending on the JV plant’s utilization rate
The plant was also initially set to open its doors next year, but the joint venture has decided to move up the opening date to late this year, in order to qualify for more subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act. A second factory is already planned for 2027, which is also to be built in Indiana.
Lotte Energy Materials only emerged from the foil specialist Iljin Materials, which was acquired by Lotte, in March 2023. Last year, the company had already announced the construction of a copper foil factory in Spain. Up to 30,000 tonnes of copper foil per year are to be produced near Tarragona from 2025. Lotte Energy Materials currently produces around 60,000 tonnes of copper foil every year – 20,000 tonnes in South Korea and 40,000 tonnes in Malaysia. The company plans to reach an annual capacity of 240,000 tonnes by 2028, giving it a 30 per cent share of the global market for high-quality copper foil.
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