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South Korean SK Group to invest US $490 million to build Power Battery Plant in China

SK Group, South Korea's third-largest multinational company, will invest 490 million US dollars to build a second car battery factory in China, South Korea's Central News Agency reported.

SK Group is expanding its battery capacity around the world, and in March it separated part of its materials business as an independent subsidiary to protect the company's power battery business in the global market and ensure its competitiveness in the current market prospects for electric vehicles and flexible displays. And SK's good profits in the above areas are also important reasons for the company's business adjustment. Sales of SK's innovative electric vehicle battery business more than doubled to 348.2 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with 145.7 billion won in the same period in 2017. The information and electronic materials division made an operating profit of 52.5 billion won in the fourth quarter.

The picture shows the production line equipment of SK factory.

Construction of the European factory has already started, and the second factory in China has been announced.

Sk Innovation has invested additional investment in Europe's second plant in Comarom, Hungary, in March this year, with a total area of 3.5ha; it will be completed in 2020 and will be officially put into production in 2022. It is estimated that the annual production capacity is 9GWH. Including the first plant in Comarom, SK Innovation has a battery capacity of 16.5Gwh/ in Europe, 7.5Gwh/ in SK Changzhou and 9.8GWh/ in Georgia in the United States. The capacity of the Busan plant in South Korea is 4.7GWh/ annual capacity.

The second factory invested by SK in China aims to meet the power battery demand of global new energy models, while the first factory of SK innovation in China has been completed in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and is expected to be put into production next year; the first plant in China is a joint venture between Beijing Automotive Group and Beijing Electric, etc., while this second factory has not yet announced the location and domestic partners. SK's innovative move is aimed at the domestic demand for new energy vehicle capacity and hopes to break the monopoly of fellow LG chemical batteries.

About SK

SK Group is the third largest multinational enterprise in South Korea, mainly with energy and chemical industry, information and communications as the two pillar industries, with two companies among the top 500 companies in the world. Currently, SK and its affiliates have more than 30000 employees, 124 offices and subsidiaries worldwide. The Fortune 500 ranks 57th, with an annual sales revenue of US $80.8 billion. SK ranked 57th on the Fortune Global 500s list in 2013. SK Group's China business began before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992. SK employs more than 10, 000 people in China and operates in about 40 regions across the country.

SK Group owns SK Comprehensive Chemistry, SK Energy, SK Hynix, SK Telecom, SK Hynix and other industry subsidiaries.

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