[Report] "Extracting 77 km of copper foil as thin as 1/30th of a hair"... SKC Ventures into Battery Materials

SK Nexilis Jeongeup Plants 5 and 6 Completed, Mass Production Started
Expanding Global Copper Foil Production System in Europe and North America
CEO Park Won-cheol: "Playing a Key Role in Supplying Ammo for Fierce Battery War"

Officials from SK Nexilis, an investment company in SKC's copper foil business for secondary batteries, are inspecting copper foil products produced at the Jeongeup plant. SKC, which acquired the copper foil business in 2020, is establishing a global production system through large-scale investments.

[Jeongeup=Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Yellow copper foil thinner than a strand of hair was continuously pushed out from a large plating drum with a diameter exceeding 3 meters. The plating machine, running non-stop 24 hours a day, produced 77 km of copper foil over three days and four nights.

Jeon Sang-hyun, Head of Production at SK Nexilis, said, "This symbolically demonstrates SK Nexilis' copper foil production technology, with a length comparable to the distance from Seoul to Cheonan," adding, "The technology we have been developing for 15 years to make copper foil thinner, longer, and wider is now bearing fruit." When touching the copper foil, it was thinner and lighter than disposable plastic film, but the weight of the finished copper foil roll reached 6 tons. This shows that SK Nexilis' unique technology ensures the copper foil does not easily break to achieve such length.

On the 11th, we visited SK Nexilis' Jeongeup plant, which leads SKC's battery material copper foil business as SKC shifts its business portfolio by selling off its decades-long core film materials division. At the 5th and 6th plants completed last year and this year, finished copper foil rolls were being stacked neatly, loaded onto automatic cranes and unmanned transport vehicles. Production efficiency has further improved by automating some processes.

Copper foil is used as the anode current collector in electric vehicle batteries. Battery manufacturers take the copper foil made by SK Nexilis and coat it with powdered anode material to make the anode. The thinner the copper foil, the lighter the battery weight, reducing the weight of electric vehicles. Longer copper foil improves battery production efficiency and reduces production costs. Wider copper foil allows delivery according to customer orders.

In 2019, SK Nexilis succeeded in mass-producing battery copper foil with a thickness of 4 μm (micrometers), about 1/30th the thickness of a hair, at a length of 30 km. In 2020, it received official certification from the Korea Records Institute for "manufacturing the longest, widest, and thinnest copper foil." SKC acquired SK Nexilis in 2020 and built the 5th and 6th plants, increasing production capacity from 34,000 tons to 52,000 tons.

Copper foil production involves a dissolution process where scrap copper wire is dissolved in sulfuric acid, a plating process where copper ions in the copper electrolyte attach to a large drum through which electricity flows, and a slitting process that cuts the foil into rolls of various widths. Jeon said, "Plating is done by electroplating, which is quite an old technology," but added, "Through various proprietary technologies such as adjusting chemical additives, electrical load, and drum rotation speed, we can produce diverse products requested by customers."

Major customers include the three domestic battery companies as well as global battery manufacturers such as China's CATL and Japan's Panasonic. The market share of products supplied to the world's top five battery companies reaches 95%. As demand for electric vehicle batteries surges, demand for copper foil is also increasing significantly.

SK Nexilis Jeongeup Plant Panorama

Accordingly, SK Nexilis is currently building copper foil production plants with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons each in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and Stalowa Wola, Poland. They plan to establish the industry's best production system by modeling the latest facilities of the Jeongeup 5th and 6th plants. They also plan to finalize factory sites in two locations in the U.S. and Canada within the year and begin construction.

By 2025, when the global production system is completed, they plan to expand copper foil production capacity to 250,000 tons annually. A 50,000-ton copper foil capacity corresponds to batteries for 1.5 to 2 million electric vehicles, and in three years, they will secure production facilities for up to 10 million vehicles.

Lee Jae-hong, CEO of SK Nexilis, said, "We will finalize sites considering local government incentives, electricity costs, availability of excellent local talent, and proximity to customers," adding, "While it is difficult to guarantee 100% that construction will start within the year, we can achieve the 2025 mass production target."

SKC, transforming into a company focused on three major material components businesses?battery, semiconductor, and eco-friendly materials?plans to grow its business scale through continuous mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In June this year, it secured 5 trillion won from the sale of its original film business and from KDB Industrial Bank.

In the battery materials sector, SKC entered the silicon anode material business, considered the next-generation anode material after copper foil, by investing in the British company Nexeon last November. In the semiconductor field, it plans to increase investment in materials and components. It has decided to invest in semiconductor glass substrates in Georgia, USA, with construction scheduled to start in the fourth quarter. In the eco-friendly materials business, it has adopted a cooperative strategy. It is promoting eco-friendly biodegradable materials with LX International and developed biodegradable limeX with the Japanese unicorn company TBM.

Park Won-chul, CEO of SKC, said, "We are still considering large-scale M&A. Although things are a bit slow now, we expect the M&A market to improve after next year and are looking for opportunities to scale up."

Park added, "The global copper foil industry is like a battlefield," explaining, "The three battery customers are fighting a war in the global market, and we are in the position of supplying the bullets." He added, "Our goal is to be a leading supplier in the copper foil industry and support Korean battery companies well."

Meanwhile, regarding Lotte Chemical's acquisition of Iljin Materials, the country's second-largest copper foil manufacturer, Park said, "We also have a favorable position in the copper foil market, but there are limiting factors that prevent us from expanding freely, which is unfortunate," adding, "If Lotte enters the copper foil industry through Iljin Materials, it will help strengthen the competitiveness of domestic battery companies, so we welcome it."

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