[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] SK Innovation's materials business subsidiary SK IE Technology (SKIET) has started commercial production of separators (LiBS) at its Changzhou Plant 2 in Jiangsu Province, China.
SKIET announced on the 13th that following the commercial operation of Changzhou Plant 1 in China last November, the separator Plant 2 has recently begun partial operation.
SKIET is partially operating 170 million square meters out of the total production capacity of 340 million square meters at Plant 2, which, combined with the existing 340 million square meters capacity of Plant 1, brings its total production capacity in China to 510 million square meters. This capacity is sufficient to produce separators needed for approximately 500,000 high-capacity electric vehicles annually. The remaining production lines at Plant 2 are being smoothly prepared for operation, targeting the first quarter of next year.
With the operation of Changzhou Plant 2, SKIET's production capacity secured in Korea, Poland, and China reaches 1.04 billion square meters, a scale capable of producing separators for 1 million electric vehicles annually. The production capacity is expected to reach 2.73 billion square meters in 2024.
China is the world's largest electric vehicle market, accounting for nearly half of the global market. SKIET chose China, a market with great potential, as its first overseas production base and began constructing the plant in 2019.
The separators produced by SKIET are highly sought after in China as well. Even before the operation of Changzhou Plant 2, supply contracts for this year's production volume had already been finalized.
According to market research firm SNE Research, SKIET ranked first in the 'Tier 1' wet separator market last year with a 26.5% market share. Tier 1 refers to leading automakers in the electric vehicle market such as Tesla, Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan, Toyota, and Hyundai-Kia. The Tier 1 separator market supplies separators to these companies. Companies capable of producing high-quality separators, including SKIET, Japan's Asahi Kasei, and Toray, have entered this market.
President Noh Jae-seok of SKIET emphasized, "We will continue to enhance our production capacity and technological capabilities to supply premium separators that achieve both performance and safety, contributing to the rapid growth of the global electric vehicle market while establishing an unrivaled market-leading position."
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