Solus aims to mass-produce copper foil in Canada from 2026

Solus Advanced Materials Co., a South Korean copper foil supplier to Tesla Inc., on Tuesday broke ground on its third overseas plant in Quebec, Canada, which is expected to begin mass production in 2026.

It will put 750 million Canadian dollars into the construction, in addition to C$150 million in borrowings from the Canadian government. If it creates 260 jobs for the plant, C$26 million will be deducted from the loan.

The ground-breaking ceremony held in Granby, Quebec comes as South Korean EVs and battery makers, including its bigger rival SK Nexilis Co., are ramping up production in North America so that buyers of their cars are eligible for US tax credits under the US Inflation Reduction Act.

The plant will be built on a 129,714-square-meter plot of land and will manufacture battery copper foils of up to 63,000 tons by 2027 annually, enough for 2.5 million EV batteries.

In the first year of its operation, it will produce 25,000 tons of copper foil. It will mark Solus Advanced’ third overseas plant after those in Luxemburg and Hungary.

"Quebec is an ideal location for Volta Energy Solutions' first North American plant, with its geographic location providing privileged access to the North American market and its strong commitment to making electric vehicle battery production a key sector of the economy," Chin Dae-je, Solus Advanced Materials Chairman said in an opening speech at the ground-breaking ceremony.

Volta Energy Solutions is Solus Advanced's subsidiary.

Chin served as South Korea’s minister of information and telecom in the early 2000s and led Samsung Electronics Co.'s digital media division.

Copper foil is a foil-based form of copper and a core material of anodes, used in rechargeable batteries.

The same day, Solus Advanced revised up its four-year supply contract with Automotive Cells Co. (ACC) by 53%. Under the contract signed last year, Solus Advanced will supply France-based ACC with 300 billion won ($225 million) worth of copper foil to be produced at its Hungary-based plant between 2024 and 2028.

The battery copper foil plant was constructed in Hungary in the early 2000s and is Solus Advanced's only battery copper foil production facility in Europe.

ACC is a joint venture of Stellantis N.V., Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies. According to a Reuters report in August, it was in early talks with officials in Canada and the US to set up a battery manufacturing plant in North America.

Its representatives met officials from Quebec in the province and those from the Canada’s federal government in May this year, it said, citing the provincial and federal government lobby registry.

Last year, Solus became the first South Korean company to directly supply battery materials to Tesla Inc., which churns out both EVs and batteries.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.