SEOUL, June 18 (AJP) - Despite mounting uncertainty in the global electric vehicle market, South Korea’s LS Group is standing firm on its long-term investment plans in battery materials and carbon-free electricity, pledging there will be “no reduction in investment,” even if the pace slows.
At the 2025 InterBattery exhibition in Seoul on March 5, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun sought to reassure industry stakeholders.
“The chasm came after LS decided to invest in battery materials but before we even began the business in earnest,” Koo said, referring to the so-called EV “market chasm.”
“I believe the chasm will already be gone by the time the factory is completed.”
Production from LS’s upcoming precursor and secondary battery materials facilities — led by its affiliate LS MnM — is expected to begin as early as 2026. The commitment underscores LS Group’s broader push toward a “carbon-free electricity” future, a vision at the heart of its long-term corporate strategy.
LS’s investment in secondary battery materials is one of several prongs in its effort to reshape the energy landscape. The group is also expanding its energy storage systems (ESS) portfolio. LS Electric recently signed a contract with Spain’s Power Electronics, while LS Materials introduced hybrid ESS technology — a first for the South Korean market.
Further bolstering its renewables footprint, LS Cable & System (LS C&S), one of the group’s core subsidiaries, announced on June 17 that it had been selected as the preferred bidder to supply submarine cables for South Korea’s largest offshore wind farm, a one-gigawatt development off the southwestern coast.
The group traces its industrial lineage back to LG Group, originally co-founded in 1947 by Koo In-hoe and Huh Man-jung.
LS Group formally spun off from LG in 2003 under the leadership of Koo Ja-hong and launched officially in 2005, inheriting LG’s industrial electronics and materials divisions. Today, LS C&S, LS Electric, and LS MnM serve as the group’s key growth engines.
A largely business-to-business conglomerate, LS has extended its global reach over the past decade.
Its U.S.-based wire subsidiary, Superior Essex, broke ground in Serbia in 2018 with a new Essex Balkan plant specializing in windings for automotive and electronics markets. The facility boasts 42 production lines and a 12,000-ton annual capacity, aimed squarely at Eastern Europe’s expanding EV sector.
LS C&S has also made inroads across Asia and Europe.
In Myanmar, it built the country’s largest power cable plant, LS-Gaon Cable Myanmar (LSGM), while in Poland, it completed a plant in 2019 producing EV battery components and communication cables. In a major milestone, the company in 2020 inked a five-year priority supply contract with Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted for ultra-high voltage submarine cables.
The group’s recent financial performance reflects this global pivot.
According to a first-quarter report released May 16 by LS Corp., the holding company, consolidated operating profit rose 25 percent year-on-year to 304.5 billion won ($223.6 million), while revenue climbed 16 percent to 6.91 trillion won.
LS C&S led the growth, with revenue surging 34.4 percent to 1.94 trillion won, buoyed by strong demand for power infrastructure amid an artificial intelligence-driven data center boom. Meanwhile, LS Electric reported flat performance, with revenue inching down to 1.03 trillion won from 1.04 trillion won a year earlier.
The metals and materials business, led by LS MnM, posted 2.83 trillion won in revenue — up 12.2 percent — driven by rising global metal prices and favorable currency conditions.
In January 2023, Chairman Koo unveiled “Vision 2030,” a roadmap that calls for more than 20 trillion won in investment by the end of the decade, largely focused on carbon-free electricity and next-generation growth engines including batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors.
“The common challenge for the world over the next 30 years can be summarized in one word: ‘Net Zero,’” said Koo. “And the key to ‘Net Zero’ is carbon-free electricity. The great transformation to this era presents an unprecedented growth opportunity for LS.”
reporter
Kim Dong-young
davekim0807@ajupress.com
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
View more comments