A visitor looks at Samsung SDI’s fifth-generation battery for electric cars at the InterBattery 2021 at COEX in Seoul on June 9, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top three battery makers invested a total of 1 trillion won in research and development (R&D) in the first half of this year.
The combined R&D spending of LG Energy Solution Ltd., SK On Co. and Samsung SDI Co. together was estimated at 997.1 billion won (US$759 million) in the first half of this year, according to industry sources.
In terms of the amount of R&D spending, Samsung SDI ranked first with 514.7 billion won, a volume equivalent to 5.9 percent of its sales.
Since Samsung SDI manufactures electronic materials in addition to batteries, it needs to spend more on R&D compared to other battery makers.
Nonetheless, given that 3 out of 5 of its R&D achievements in the first half of this year were associated with batteries, a substantial amount of its first half R&D spending was devoted to battery development.
First half R&D spending at LG Energy Solution and SK On came in at 378.4 billion won and 104 billion won, respectively.
The combined R&D spending of LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI stood at 893.2 billion won in the first half of this year, equivalent to 71 percent of last year’s annual total.
SK On did not disclose its annual R&D spending since it was spun off in October last year.
The primary factor behind the efforts of Korean companies to secure new technology is the desire to narrow the ever-widening gap with China.
The big three battery makers had a combined share of 25.8 percent of the global electric vehicle battery market in the first half of this year, according to the report by market tracker SNE Research, falling behind the world’s No. 1 player CATL’s 34.8 percent.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
