Korean group invests over 100 billion in U.S. battery

According to foreign media reports, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a US$39.4 billion investment plan for South Korean companies in the United States, involving companies including Samsung, SK, LG, and Hyundai, of which US$21.4 billion (approximately 137.7 billion yuan) Used in new energy vehicles and battery industries. Among them, LG New Energy and SKI will invest about 14 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 90 billion yuan) to establish a local joint venture company or invest separately; Hyundai Motor plans to invest 7.4 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 47.6 billion U.S. dollars) in new energy vehicle production and charging infrastructure. Yuan). LG New Energy and General Motors will build an electric vehicle battery plant in Tennessee. A total of 2.7 trillion won will be invested in the plant through a joint venture company UltiumCells. The company plans to have an annual production capacity of at least 35GWh in the first half of 2024. In addition, LG New Energy is considering the construction of two more plants and will invest at least 5 trillion won by 2025. SKI plans to invest 3 trillion won to establish a joint venture with Ford to produce EV batteries, with an annual output of 60GWh. SKI will also invest another 3 trillion won in two factories currently under construction in Georgia. In addition, it is considering investing another three trillion won to build two other factories. Hyundai Motor has announced a few days ago that before 2025, it will invest 7.4 billion U.S. dollars in the production of future electric vehicles, upgrade plants, and further invest in smart mobility solutions. Hyundai Group is expected to expand its plant in Alabama, USA to produce Ioniq5, Ioniq6, GenesisJW, etc. On May 18, when US President Biden visited Ford Motor Company, he said in a speech that electric vehicles are 'the future of the automobile industry' and that my country is already leading the race. Biden believes that the current situation must be changed so that the United States will surpass our country in the competition for electric vehicles. To achieve this goal, Biden proposed an 'electric vehicle plan' worth about US$174 billion (approximately RMB 1.1 trillion). The South Korea’s several investment plans this time can help Biden’s infrastructure plans to promote the development and production of the US electric vehicle industry. However, although Japanese and Korean battery giants, including LG New Energy, SKI, and Panasonic, all build plants in the United States to produce power lithium batteries, and even build battery plants with American OEMs such as Tesla, General Motors, and Ford, domestic power lithium batteries The company lacks and does not have the ability to supply large-scale localized mass production, which means that for a long period of time in the future, the supply of power lithium batteries in the United States will still rely on external manufacturing. In addition to lithium-ion batteries, the United States also lacks localized mass production and supply capabilities in the industrial chain including core lithium-ion battery materials such as positive electrodes, negative electrodes, separators, and electrolytes, as well as lithium battery production equipment, and it is difficult to support the ambitions of the US electric vehicle industry. .