SKC invests $33 million in UK company to enter battery anode materials market

Factory of Nexion, a UK silicon anode material technology company invested by SKC

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] SKC announced on the 1st that it held a board meeting and decided to invest 33 million dollars in Nexion, a UK-based silicon anode material technology company.

Silicon anode material is a material that improves the driving range and charging speed performance of electric vehicles and is considered to be in the early stages of commercialization. This investment is part of a new business initiative aimed at increasing corporate value. The company is making this investment as part of a consortium with private equity firm SJL Partners and BNW Investment. The total investment amount from the three companies is 80 million dollars, with the SKC-BNW consortium investing 51%, and 49% being invested by SJL Partners, which is recruiting investors to participate in the consortium.

SKC, as the main operator of the consortium, will secure a portion of Nexion’s shares and the business rights for silicon-carbon composite anode material technology once related procedures such as corporate merger filings are completed. Silicon anode material is a substance mixed with conventional graphite anode material, and the higher the silicon content, the better the key performance factors such as electric vehicle driving range and charging speed. According to market research firms, the silicon anode material market size, which was 400 million dollars last year, is expected to grow to 2.9 billion dollars by 2025 and 14.6 billion dollars by 2030. Depending on the silicon content, it is divided into low-content and high-content products, and the company explained that currently, low-content products are in the early commercialization stage.

Nexion, established in 2006 as a technology startup, possesses technology capable of mass-producing silicon anode materials with both price competitiveness and excellent performance in a short period. It holds the largest number of important patents related to silicon anode materials and is reportedly receiving many collaboration requests from major electric vehicle and battery companies. SKC plans to first commercialize low-content products independently and then commercialize high-content products through a joint venture with Nexion depending on market conditions. Synergies with SKC subsidiary SK Nexilis, which has copper foil manufacturing technology, are also expected.

An SKC official stated, "By combining the strengths of SKC and Nexion with synergies from the copper foil business, we will provide secondary battery material solutions to customers that have both quality and price competitiveness."

Meanwhile, the company announced that its operating profit for the third quarter of this year was 145.8 billion won, a 139% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales were 886.8 billion won, up 33% during the same period. With steady improvements in performance across SK Nexilis, chemical business joint venture SK PIC Global, and industrial materials business, the company posted record-high operating profits in the third quarter following the previous second quarter.

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