SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) - LS-L&F Battery Solution, a joint venture between LS Corp. and battery materials maker L&F, inaugurated a precursor plant on Tuesday in the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
The 1 trillion won ($730 million) facility, spanning about 40,000 square meters, is expected to employ roughly 1,000 people, underscoring the government’s efforts to strengthen domestic supply chains in the fast-growing battery sector.
The opening ceremony was attended by senior executives from LS Group and L&F, along with regional officials including North Jeolla Governor Kim Kwan-young.
“This plant will be a key hub for K-battery materials, reducing reliance on China and accelerating our path to global leadership,” said LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, noting that China currently controls about 80 percent of the global precursor market.
The plant began trial operations in April and aims to gradually scale up production to 120,000 tons of precursor by 2029, a volume sufficient for about 1.3 million electric vehicles.
LS-L&F Battery Solution was formed in October 2023 as part of LS Group’s push beyond its traditional businesses in electricity and materials into growth areas such as batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors.
The expansion is supported by LS MnM, the group’s non-ferrous metal unit, which plans to invest 1.8 trillion won in new plants in Ulsan and Saemangeum by 2029 to produce nickel sulfate, a critical raw material for precursors.
That output will feed into LLBS, which will then supply L&F for cathode manufacturing, creating what the company describes as a fully domestic battery materials value chain.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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