SK Nexilis bolsters ties with Polish, Korean cities for sustainable growth

South Korean copper foil producer SK Nexilis Co. on Nov. 7 signed an MOU with the authorities of two cities — Jeongeup, Korea, and Stalowa Wola, Poland — on sustainable cooperation among the three parties.  

Key attendees at the signing ceremony included SK Nexilis President and CEO Lee Jae-hong, Jeongeup city Mayor Lee Hak-su and Stalowa Wola city Mayor Lucjusz Nadberezny. The Korean city is SK Nexilis’ domestic production base, while the Polish one is where the copper foil maker is building a plant where production is slated to begin in the second half of 2024.

Officials from the two cities pledged to bolster support for SK Nexilis’ business infrastructure and licensing, operate the firm’s recruiting and training programs and fund accommodations for its partner companies’ personnel.

SK Nexilis will prioritize local talent from the two cities when hiring, as well as expand its entrepreneurship education programs and cultural events in the cities.

SK Nexilis is wholly owned by SKC Ltd., the chemical materials unit of Korean conglomerate SK Group. It manufactures high-purity copper foil, which is used to make anode materials in lithium-ion batteries, and flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL) for display and 5G communication components.

It is the world’s largest copper foil maker, with a global market share of 22% as of 2021, according to research firm SNE Research. It exported $453 million worth of products last year, of which 53% went to Asia and 43% to Europe.  

The company has expanded annual production at its Jeongeup copper foil manufacturing facilities from 50,000 to 52,000 tons. 

It also broke ground in July 2021 on a plant in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons, that it aims to complete construction of by 2023. And in August this year, it started building the Stalowa Wola, Poland-based plant with the same capacity as the Malaysian factory.

With plans afoot to build a US factory with a 50,000-ton annual capacity, the firm aims to achieve a global annual production capacity of 250,000 tons by 2025.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.