Korea’s Iljin to build $391 mn battery materials plant in Spain

South Korea’s Iljin Materials Co. plans to invest 500 billion won ($391.2 million) in a battery materials plant in Spain, its first production base in Europe, to expand its business in the world’s second-largest electric vehicle market.

IlJin said on Monday it will build a plant to produce 25,000 tons of elecfoil a year, a thin copper foil used for cathode collectors in rechargeable lithium batteries, for EVs in Catalonia. The company is scheduled to break ground as soon as the first half with an aim to complete the construction in 2024.

The new facility is expected to raise Iljin’s annual elecfoil production capacity to 130,000 tons, including 15,000 tons in South Korea and 90,000 tons in Malaysia, according to the company. It aims to raise output capacity in Europe to 100,000 tons, eventually, although it has yet to unveil further details on the increase.

“We will secure a competitive production base in Europe, a core EV market,” said Iljin CEO Yang Jeom-sik in a statement. “We will also decide on a bridgehead in North America as early as this year to grow into a global top-tier maker of secondary battery materials.”

INCLUDED IN VOLKSWAGEN-LED CONSORTIUM FOR SPAIN EV PROJECT

Iljin is set to speed up the expansion of its presence in the European EV market with the new plant completed. The company said it was included in the Volkswagen Group-led 70 billion euros ($73 billion) consortium last month for a project to develop Spain into an EV hub in Europe with a target of 250,000 EVs running in the country by 2023.

Volkswagen Group will build its own battery factory in Valencia.

Meanwhile, Iljin plans to use only renewable energy for the Catalonia elecfoil plant’s electricity needs by producing more than half of electricity by solar power generation.

The company selected the site in consideration of the Catalan government’s eco-friendly automobile industry policy and its efforts to attract investment, as well as stable power networks based on green energy such as solar power.

Write to Byung-Keun Kim at bk11@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.