This photo provided by SK IE Technology Co. shows company’s LiBS plant in Poland.
SEOUL, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) — SK IE Technology Co. (SKIET), an affiliate of South Korean EV battery producer SK Innovation Co., has decided to make a large investment to preempt the fledgling market for lithium-ion battery separators.
The company decided to invest an unprecedented 1.13 trillion won (US$997 million) to build its third and fourth separator plants in Silonsk, Poland during a board meeting last Friday.
The third and fourth separator plants in Poland will each be capable of producing 400 million square meters of separators each year.
Combining the production capability of the first and second separator plants, SKIET will be able to produce a total of 1.5 billion square meters of separators each year just in Poland.
Construction on the third and fourth separator plants is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year, with the goal of bringing them online in 2023.
SKIET’s recent investment decision comes as it seeks to preempt the fast-growing global battery material market.
The company’s separator production capability will jump to 1.3 billion square meters this year with the operation of plants in Poland and China, and will continue to rise to 2.7 billion square meters by 2024.
SKIET now accounts for a 26.8 percent share of the high-end wet separators market, surpassing Japanese chemical companies Asahi Kasei Corp. and Toray Industries, Inc. to become the largest player in the market, according to the data by SNE Research.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
