- Home
- NEWSROOM
NEWSROOM
Check out the latest POSCO FUTURE M news and videos.
POSCO Future M receives KRW 30 trillion order for high-nickel cathode materials from LG Energy Solution
2023.04.26
- Over 52 trillion won in cumulative supply contracts with LG Energy Solution... Total cumulative orders for cathode materials exceeding 92 trillion won.
- Improved business capabilities, such as raw materials, quality, and mass production capacity for customer success, are paying off.
POSCO Future M has signed a large-scale cathode material supply contract with LG Energy Solution, further solidifying their partnership.
The company concluded the deal on the 26th of this month to supply cathode materials worth about 30.2595 trillion won to LG Energy Solution from this year through to 2029 for a total of seven years.
The products supplied by POSCO Future M are high-nickel NCM and NCMA cathode materials, core materials for the batteries required for high-performance electric vehicles. These products will be supplied to LG Energy Solution's battery plants at home and abroad.
The cathode material accounts for more than 40% of the total cost of a battery and plays a crucial role in determining its capacity and power output. Primarily used in electric vehicle batteries, high-nickel cathode materials are high value-added products that maximize the proportion of nickel (N) to increase the energy storage capacity of the battery, and use cobalt (C), manganese (M), and aluminum (A) together to improve stability and power output.
With this supply contract, the company is expected to further strengthen its long-standing partnership with LG Energy Solution to target the global electric vehicle battery market.
POSCO Future M entered the battery material business in 2011 and has since been working with LG Energy Solution for product development. The company began to supply cathode and anode materials to the partner from 2012, maintaining their close partnership. Later in 2020, they made their first mega deal worth 1.8533 trillion won to supply cathode materials, and in 2022, POSCO Future M received a cathode material supply order worth about 22 trillion won from Ultium Cells, a joint venture between LG Energy Solution and GM. With this contract, POSCO Future M's order volume from LG Energy Solution has exceeded 52 trillion won. Including its supply contracts with Samsung SDI, the company’s total order amount of cathode materials amounts to 92 trillion won.
Rapidly establishing itself as a global top-tier battery material company with a series of recent large-scale orders, POSCO Future M is focusing its R&D efforts on diversifying its product portfolio with high-nickel cathode materials and artificial graphite and silicon anode materials in response to the rapid growth and high performance of the electric vehicle market.
In addition, the company is actively seeking to expand production not only within Korea but also to the U.S., China, and Europe, all of which are major markets for electric vehicles.
This is expected to increase the company’s cathode material yield from 105,000 tons this year to 610,000 tons by 2030, and its anode material yield from 82,000 tons to 320,000 tons.
By strengthening its partnership with POSCO Group, which has secured the full value chain from mining rights for lithium and nickel to material production and recycling, LG Energy Solution has established a reliable supply chain of core materials to strengthen its competitiveness in the global battery business. In addition to supplying cathode materials, the company hopes to expand the partnership to include recycling and the local production of precursors.
“The growth of our battery materials business has been possible due to our close partnership with LG Energy Solution from the very start," said Kim Jun-hyung, President of POSCO Future M. "We will further strengthen our business capabilities to better serve our customers, including our raw material competitiveness, quality technology, and stable mass production capacity, and further solidify our future partnership."
Major orders won by POSCO Future M for secondary battery materials
|
Customer (product line) |
Order amount (KRW) |
Contract length |
Contract announcement |
|
LG Energy Solution (NCM
& NCMA cathode) |
30.2595 trillion |
2023 - 2029 |
Apr. 2023 |
|
Samsung SDI (NCA
cathode) |
40 trillion |
2023 - 2032 |
Jan. 2023 |
|
Ultium Cells (artificial
graphite anode) |
939.3 billion |
2023 - 2028 |
Dec. 2022 |
|
Ultium Cells (NCMA
cathode) |
13.7696 trillion |
2023 - 2025 |
Jul. 2022 |
|
Ultium Cells (NCMA
cathode) |
8.389 trillion |
2025 - 2033 |
May 2022 |