SKIET Collaborates with Vietnam's Vingroup to Expand Overseas Market for Secondary Battery Materials

Collaboration with Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacturer 'Bin ES' Materializes
Priority Supply of Separators for EV Batteries Produced in Vietnam and North America

No Jaeseok, President of SK IE Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] SK Group's secondary battery separator manufacturer SK IE Technology (SKIET) is collaborating with Vingroup, the largest group in Vietnam, to enter the Southeast Asian and North American secondary battery markets.

On the 5th, SKIET announced that on the 26th of last month, executives including Pham Thuy Linh, President of VinES, Vingroup's electric vehicle battery manufacturer, and Brian Keith, Technical Strategy Director, visited SKIET's headquarters and the Chungbuk Jeungpyeong factory.

The two companies had previously signed a business agreement to prioritize supplying SKIET separators for electric vehicle batteries produced by VinES in Vietnam, the United States, and other locations, and this visit was made to discuss the concretization of the business.

Vingroup is the largest private company in Vietnam and established VinFast, the only automobile company in Vietnam, in 2017. Last year, it launched its first electric vehicle (VF e34) and currently produces 250,000 units annually in Vietnam alone.

VinFast has officially announced its entry into the U.S. market and is also targeting overseas markets. It has confirmed the establishment of a local production plant in North Carolina, USA, with an investment of $2 billion (approximately 2.6 trillion KRW). Including the production volume of the North Carolina plant scheduled to start operations in 2024, it aims to produce about 150,000 electric vehicles annually in the future.

VinES was created to manufacture batteries exclusively for VinFast electric vehicle production and supplies batteries for electric vehicles produced at VinFast's Vietnam factory. When the VinFast North Carolina plant is established, it will also be responsible for battery supply in the U.S.

SKIET expects that collaboration with Vingroup will gain momentum in targeting the Southeast Asian market including Vietnam and the North American market including the U.S. Currently, SKIET maintains a global leading position in the premium wet separator market. It was the world's first to use the sequential stretching method, allowing free adjustment of separator thickness while achieving uniform quality.

President Noh Jae-seok of SKIET said, "We are pleased to discuss full-scale cooperation with a leading company in Vietnam, where the electric vehicle market is growing rapidly," adding, "We will continue close cooperation to promote our unique technology and safety and explore various business opportunities including separators."

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