[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Gangwon Energy announced on the 1st that it has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Gangwon iSolution.
Recently, the top four domestic cathode material companies have been expanding capacity and developing differentiated technologies. If the facility expansions of the four companies proceed as planned, they will secure a capacity of at least 770,000 tons by 2025. This is expected to account for more than 25% of the global cathode material production. According to market research firm SNE Research, the cathode material market is growing at an average annual rate of 33%, with demand projected to increase to 2.75 million tons by 2025 and 6.05 million tons by 2030.
As the share of domestic companies in the global cathode material market continues to rise, Gangwon Energy plans to accelerate the expansion of secondary battery orders together with its 100% subsidiary Gangwon iSolution. Gangwon Energy will handle cathode material production facilities and electrode process mixing, while Gangwon iSolution will be responsible for turnkey engineering of the entire cathode material process and the materials sector.
Gangwon iSolution has 38 years of experience in secondary battery process engineering design and materials business. Based on various physicochemical equipment and manufacturing know-how, it achieved orders worth 21 billion KRW last year through domestic cathode material companies. The company expects sales of 33 billion KRW this year and anticipates reaching sales levels of 56 billion KRW and 85 billion KRW in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
A company official explained, “Gangwon iSolution has already been providing turnkey engineering solutions for the entire process to domestic cathode material companies and is preparing for the lithium materials business. With the addition of Gangwon Energy’s technology in energy heat management, it is expected that the expansion of secondary battery business orders will gain momentum.”
He added, “Along with order expansion, we plan to enhance market competitiveness in the secondary battery cathode material and battery sectors through joint research and development (R&D) with Gangwon iSolution.”
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