SKIET's Polish Battery Separator Factory to Receive Additional 1.1 Trillion KRW Investment, 'Largest Ever'

Recent Board Meeting Approves Investment in Poland Plants 3 and 4 with Total Annual Capacity of 860 Million ㎡
Global Production Capacity Expected to Expand to 2.73 Billion ㎡ by 2024
Poland Plant 1 Production Scheduled for Q3 This Year Already Sold Out

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] SK Innovation's materials business subsidiary SK IE Technology (SKIET) announced on the 28th that it will make the largest investment in the history of the separator business to build an additional lithium-ion battery separator (LiBS) production plant in Poland.

SK IE Technology held a board meeting on the 26th and decided to build the 3rd and 4th separator plants in the Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, which will be the 3rd and 4th separator plants in Europe. The investment scale is about 1.13 trillion KRW, the largest single investment ever made by SK IE Technology.

The annual production capacity of the 3rd and 4th plants to be built by SK IE Technology in Poland will be 430 million square meters each, totaling 860 million square meters. With this, SK IE Technology will be able to produce a total of 1.54 billion square meters of separators annually in Poland alone, combined with the existing 1st and 2nd plants' production capacity of 680 million square meters.

Separators are essential materials that directly affect the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries, accounting for about 15-20% of battery costs, making them a key component in the growth of the electric vehicle and battery industries.

The reason SK IE Technology is making such a large-scale investment is to proactively respond to the rapidly growing global electric vehicle and battery markets, which have significantly increased purchasing demands from related industries. SK stated, "Some of the separators to be produced at the Poland 1st plant, which will start mass production in the 4th quarter, and the China Changzhou 2nd plant, scheduled to operate in the 1st quarter of next year, have already secured sufficient demand and are in negotiation even before the plants begin operation."

SK IE Technology attributes the attention its products receive in the industry to their unparalleled safety based on world-class technology. To date, no fire accidents have occurred in batteries using separators manufactured by SK IE Technology. SK Innovation explained, "We possess differentiated proprietary technologies such as the 'sequential stretching' technique that allows free adjustment of separator thickness while maintaining uniform quality, and separator coating technology that minimizes deformation under heat and impact."

The rapid growth of the separator market is also a background for aggressive investment. The global separator market, which was about 4 billion square meters last year, is expected by the industry to surge to about 16 billion square meters by 2025. In particular, supply shortages are anticipated to begin from 2023.

SK IE Technology aims to expand its market share through proactive investment and solidify its position as a premium separator manufacturer, maintaining its current number one position in the global wet separator market. SK IE Technology plans to start construction of the Poland 3rd and 4th plants in the 3rd quarter of this year and begin mass production from the end of 2023. The existing 1st plant will start mass production in the 3rd quarter of this year, and the 2nd plant will begin mass production in the 1st quarter of 2023.

SK IE Technology already operates plants with a production capacity of about 860 million square meters in Chungcheongbuk-do, Jeungpyeong, South Korea, and Changzhou, China. As the new plants being built in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, and Changzhou, China, are sequentially put into operation, production capacity will increase to about 1.36 billion square meters by the end of this year. With the investment in the Poland 3rd and 4th plants, production capacity will reach 2.73 billion square meters in 2024.

Jaeseok Noh, President of SK IE Technology, emphasized, "By expanding the supply of safe separators based on SK's unique technology, we will dispel consumers' concerns about battery safety, contribute to the growth of the electric vehicle industry, and lead the company's growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.