SK Group’s Chey vows half of $52 bn US spending in batteries, hydrogen

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has vowed to spend $26 billion, or half of the group’s planned investment in the US by 2030, on electric vehicle battery and hydrogen projects to help the US government’s efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Chey made the remarks while meeting with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority whip James Clyburn during his US trip last week, SK Group said on Tuesday.

SK, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, has said it plans to invest $52 billion in the US by 2030 to expand its facilities and joint venture projects to ride on President Joe Biden’s aggressive clean energy policy.

Last Wednesday, Chey embarked on a one-week trip to Washington D.C. to meet US politicians, government officials and business leaders and discuss ways to cooperate in the industry shift toward sustainable growth.

During his stay in the US, he also met with Tennessee senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and asked for their attention to and support for SK’s battery business there.

SK On, a spin-off of SK Innovation Co., the battery unit of the group, in September launched its first US battery joint venture with Ford Motor to build an assembly and battery plant in Tennessee, as well as two other battery factories in Kentucky.

SK has said it will invest $4.45 billion in the $11.4 billion JV, called BlueOvalSK.

The three factories will have an annual production capacity of 129 gigawatt-hours (GWh), enough to supply 2.15 million EVs a year.

GETTING A HANDLE ON POLICY TRENDS

“SK will help create a combined 11,000 new jobs in Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, where another battery plant is already under construction,” he said.

Chey's US trip comes as President Biden vows to invest $1.2 trillion to advance the country’s energy grid and renewable energy infrastructure. The US administration aims to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050.

Korea’s top business leaders recently made US trips while their companies moved to newly open their Washington offices to deal with regulatory and government issues as gaining a handle on US policy trends and networking has become crucial to doing business in the US.

In the US, Chey also held video talks with Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley and reaffirmed close cooperation for the completion of their JV.

Following his US trip, the SK Group chairman on Monday headed to Hungary to join a South Korean delegation accompanying Korean President Moon Jae-in on his three-country state visit in Europe. 

In Hungary, Chey visited an SK battery plant with an annual production capacity of 17.8 GWh.

Write to Jeong-Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.