"She Who Said 'I Married a Battery,' 'Mistakes Mean Death... Pay Attention to Customer Needs'"

Interview with Kim Yumi, BNW Vice President
First Female Engineer Vice President at Samsung
Credit for Achieving Global No.1 in Batteries
"China Is Not an Easy Opponent...
Now Is the Time When Price Competitiveness Becomes Important"

"In the secondary battery market, mistakes mean death. It is an extremely tough industry."

On the 23rd, the reporter met Kim Yumi, Vice President of BNW Investment, who is considered a legend in the Korean battery industry. In 2015, while working at Samsung SDI, she became the first female engineer to be promoted to vice president within the Samsung Group. She was recognized for her significant contributions to Samsung SDI achieving global number one status in the small battery sector.

At Samsung, she was known as the "woman married to batteries." Her connection with batteries has continued even after retirement. She currently works at BNW, discovering venture companies with growth potential in advanced industries such as batteries.

Vice President Kim completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry at Chungnam National University and worked as a researcher at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and the Korea Standards Research Institute in 1982. She began her full-fledged battery research career in 1996 when she joined Samsung Electro-Mechanics (now Samsung SDI).

At that time, after Sony first commercialized lithium-ion batteries in 1991, Japanese companies began releasing related products one by one. Until then, nickel-metal hydride batteries were the mainstream secondary batteries, and lithium-ion batteries were in their infancy. Since no clear market leader had emerged yet, she thought it was worth trying.

However, Japanese companies did not transfer their technology. Instead, they warned, "Batteries are a difficult business, so don't do it." While this was partly to keep potential competitors in check, the statement was true. Vice President Kim used the chilling expression that "if you make a mistake in the battery market, you die."

In fact, among the Japanese companies that led the global battery market until the mid-2000s, only Panasonic remains in the top 10 today. Sony was almost driven out of the market after laptop PC fire incidents. The leadership in the battery industry has shifted frequently?from the U.S. to Japan, and then from Japan to Korea.

Currently, Korean companies maintain a leading position in the global battery market, but they could fall behind at any moment. Korean, Japanese, and Chinese companies are fiercely competing for survival. Vice President Kim especially emphasized that "Chinese companies are not opponents to be underestimated" and warned against letting down one's guard.

She explained that if Korean companies have 500 engineers, Chinese companies have 10,000, and the number of production lines is 10 to 100 times greater. Although Korean battery companies have very high technical capabilities, she advised not to miss customer demands.

Samsung SDI's achievement of becoming number one globally in 2010 was possible because of passionate and bold dedication to technology development and quick response to market demands. Around the 2000s, the miniaturization and mobilization of information technology (IT) devices rapidly progressed, and the market's demand for high-capacity batteries grew. In response, Samsung SDI first introduced a 1650mAh cylindrical battery in 1998, surpassing the then-standard 1400mAh. A year later, in 1999, they succeeded in developing an 1800mAh battery, quickly catching up with leading companies.

Vice President Kim explained the secret to being number one in small batteries: "Along with developing high-capacity technology, we developed various product forms such as cylindrical, prismatic, and polymer batteries that customers wanted, enabling us to supply products to major global companies." Samsung SDI later expanded into the power tool market by developing high-nickel batteries with increased nickel content that can deliver strong instantaneous power.

Regarding recent Chinese companies expanding the market with inexpensive lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, Vice President Kim diagnosed that price competitiveness has become important in the battery market. She explained, "Strong environmental regulations and subsidy policies by governments worldwide are driving the electric vehicle market," and "from the perspective of electric vehicle manufacturers, lowering battery costs has become crucial to increase profits." Battery companies have no choice but to secure price competitiveness to survive in response to these demands.

Vice President Kim predicted that "lithium-ion batteries will not disappear until I die" and will continue to remain the mainstream in the market. Lithium-ion batteries are continuously improving performance by changing active materials. Next-generation batteries, such as solid-state batteries or lithium metal batteries, are not fundamentally far from the essence of 'lithium-ion' batteries.

The rapidly growing battery market is facing negative outlooks as electric vehicle growth slows. The stock prices of domestic battery-related companies have also fallen sharply. However, Vice President Kim said, "There is a global consensus that net zero (carbon neutrality) must be achieved," and forecasted that "the secondary battery market will continue to grow until 2035."

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