SK Nexilis to unveil ultra-high strength EV battery copper foil

SK Nexilis Co., a unit of South Korean chemical materials maker SKC Ltd., has developed technology to mass produce ultra-high strength copper foil, a core material for electric vehicle batteries and semiconductor materials.

The new copper foil has the ultimate tensile strength of 65 kilogram-force per square millimeter, or twice the pulling force of the current standard copper foil, the company said on Tuesday.

A copper foil is a thin foil that surrounds the anode, the negative end of a lithium-ion battery. High-strength copper foils are essential to making safer, high-density rechargeable batteries.

SK Nexilis said its high-strength copper foil also has high heat resistance that withstands high temperatures with no changes in the foil’s physical properties, which will reduce the risk of defects and improve productivity.

Separately, the company said it has developed technology to produce copper foils with a thickness of 4 micrometers, or one-thirtieth the diameter of a human hair, a width of 1.3 meters and a length of 30 km per roll.

TENFOLD GROWTH OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS

“The size of the global copper foil market will grow tenfold over the next few years. We aim to get a greater share of the market,” said an SK Nexilis official.

SK Nexilis is already the world’s largest copper foil maker with a global market share of 22% as of 2021, according to research firm SNE Research. China’s Londian Wason Holdings Co. is the No. 2 player with a 19% market share, followed by Taiwan’s Chang Chun Group (CCP) with an 18% share, and Korea’s Iljin Materials Co., which has a 13% market share.

SK is supplying copper foil to a number of global battery makers, including Korean companies such as SK On Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd.

SK Group entered the copper foil market in 2019 when it acquired a foil-making business from global investment company KKR & Co., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., for 1.2 trillion won ($916 million). Later, SK launched the business as a separate entity, SK Nexilis Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of SKC.

With competition heating up in the global race for EVs and other eco-friendly cars, SK and other Korean companies are moving forward with their plans to expand facilities for raw materials used in EV batteries.

Last month, SKC said it is selling its plastic film business to private equity firm Hahn & Co. for 1.6 trillion won to raise funds to expand its battery materials business.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.