Kim Yeon-seop, CEO of Lotte Energy Materials Corp., speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday. (Lotte Energy Materials Corp.,)
Lotte Energy Materials Corp. aims to boost its global market share in high-end copper foil manufacturing to 30 percent over the next five years, with a push to expand its presence in Europe and North America, its CEO said Tuesday.
The new copper foil unit under South Korea's Lotte Group unveiled its growth ambitions as it seeks to become a main global player in the burgeoning electric vehicle components market.
Lotte Energy Materials, formerly Iljin Materials Co., set sail under the new name in March this year following the acquisition by its parent company, Lotte Chemical Corp.
"We will be reborn as the No. 1 global company in the high-end copper foil market by expanding our super-gap technology that enables ultrahigh strength and high-stretch copper foil, and pushing for an expansion in South Korea, Malaysia, Europe and North America," Lotte Energy Materials CEO Kim Yeon-seop said during a press conference.
Copper foil is as thin as one-fifteenth the width of a human hair and used as the anode current collector of lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles.
Making copper foils thinner, longer and more superior in tensile strength is key to manufacturing competitiveness in the high-end market. The thinness allows for more active materials, such as graphite, to be added to the battery cells. It also reduces the weight of the battery and boosts battery capacity.
Kim said high-end copper foil demand is projected to more than quadruple to about 2.2 million tons in 2030 from the current 500,000 tons, as demand for cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries will rapidly grow in the higher-end EV market.
LFP batteries have increasingly gained traction due to cheaper costs than high-nickel based cells, but their lower energy density remains a challenge.
"Ultrathin copper foils are essential in making LFP batteries," Kim said. "And we have the best technology as a copper foil company capable of meeting the high-end demand."
The next-generation 46-millimeter-wide cylindrical battery cells used in EVs are also expected to drive up high-end copper foil demand, Kim added.
Lotte Energy Materials is targeting an order backlog of 20 trillion won ($15.3 billion) by 2025, versus this year's target of 15 trillion won.
It plans to boost the production capacity to 240,000 tons a year globally, including 130,000 tons from its overseas plants, from some 60,000 tons expected for this year.
Aligning with the US and European policies on batteries and battery components, Lotte Energy Materials plans to establish an operation site in Spain and is looking at "one or two" locations as candidates for a new plant in North America, Kim said.
Lotte Energy Materials will use its domestic manufacturing facility in Iksan, 170 kilometers southwest of Seoul, as the main base for research and development to focus on developing high value-added products. (Yonhap)
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