Lotte Materials invests in French silicon cathode materials startup

Lotte Energy Materials Corp., formerly Iljin Materials and now a copper foil manufacturing subsidiary of South Korea's Lotte Chemical Corp., on Sunday announced the investment of 7.9 billion won ($6.2 million) in the French silicon cathode materials startup Enwires.

Lotte Energy Materials on Friday signed an equity investment contract with Enwires at the headquarters of the corporate venture capital company Lotte Ventures in Seoul, forming with the latter Lotte Energy Materials Fund.

Through this method, Lotte Energy Materials invested 7.9 billion won in Enwires to invest in and run a demo plant, deciding to mass-produce high-performance silicon cathode materials based on the French company's silicon composite material (Si-C series) technology.

Silicon cathode material, a next-generation cathode material, raises the energy density of battery cells to increase the driving range of electric vehicles and cut charging time. With a pilot line with annual capacity of 2.5 tons, Enwires will start commercial mass production in 2027 and boost capacity.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com