[Special Stock] Seonam Gains Attention as 'Electric Vehicle Era' Power Shortage Solver... Up to 10x Faster Production Speed Compared to Competitors

Seonam is showing strong performance. As secondary battery-related stocks continue to rise, attention is also focused on Seonam. Expectations that the 2nd generation high-temperature superconducting wire can maximize transmission efficiency and miniaturize transmission facilities to meet the increasing power demand due to the expansion of electric vehicle adoption seem to be influencing the stock price.

At 1:34 PM on the 10th, Seonam was trading at 2,950 KRW, up 13.24% from the previous day.

Since last month, the stock price has been on an upward curve. It is interpreted that the demand for 2nd generation high-temperature superconducting wire is increasing with the expansion of electric vehicle adoption, leading to expectations that Seonam's technology will be spotlighted.

The 2nd generation high-temperature superconducting wire manufactured and sold by Seonam is a material whose resistance becomes completely zero below a certain temperature (critical temperature). Unlike common metals such as copper, it can conduct current without loss due to resistance. Superconducting magnets are most widely used in large research projects, medical, and transportation fields. Seonam possesses ultra-high magnetic field magnet design and cryogenic environment design technology, and has developed and supplied high-field insulated high-temperature superconducting magnet systems and insulated high-temperature superconducting magnet rotors.

Seonam is cooperating in various ways to expand the market by developing customized products and discovering new businesses with Korea Electric Power Corporation, LS Cable & System, LS Electric, Russia's SuperOx, France's Nexans, NASA, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Supergenics, Airbus, and others.

For new production facilities, Seonam has manufactured RCE-DR equipment to improve the characteristics of superconducting wire. The magnetic field characteristics have been optimized to increase more than twice compared to existing equipment. It has been introduced into the manufacturing process, enabling the supply of wire not only for superconducting cables and fault current limiters but also for magnets and nuclear fusion fields, among various application devices. Research is also underway to develop IBAD and PLD equipment to increase productivity.

In November 2019, with the world's first commercialization of superconducting cables by Korea Electric Power Corporation, South Korea led the global superconducting power industry and laid the technological foundation for market dominance. Seonam fully localized superconducting materials, which were classified as strategic materials by Japan, through research and development support for superconducting wire for cables by Korea Electric Power Corporation.

The 2nd generation high-temperature superconducting wire, which is Seonam's main focus, is a tape-shaped wire manufactured by depositing ceramic superconducting material with biaxial orientation as a thin film on a metal substrate. Compared to copper wires used in existing power equipment, it can transmit current with about 1,000 times the capacity without loss. Superconducting cables using high-temperature superconducting wire reduce power loss to less than half compared to conventional copper wire cables and increase transmission capacity up to 10 times.

Since transformers are not separately required, the substation area is also reduced. One superconducting cable can replace 10 copper cables, reducing installation space. It is suitable for large cities where line expansion is difficult or for lines that need replacement due to overload. By simply replacing copper cables with superconducting cables while keeping existing power ducts and conduits, power supply capacity can be increased, resulting in significant cost savings in civil engineering works.

Once superconducting cables are fully commercialized, it is expected that not only will the annual transmission loss cost of over 1 trillion KRW currently incurred in South Korea be drastically reduced, but also the existing energy supply paradigm will be transformed through maximizing transmission efficiency, miniaturizing transmission facilities, and applying to various industrial fields to respond to the explosively increasing power demand due to the expansion of electric vehicle adoption.

Seonam independently developed the superconducting layer deposition technology (RCE-DR), one of the core processes for mass production of high-temperature superconducting wire, and holds about 80 domestic and international patents related to manufacturing and applications. Seonam can produce high-performance (600A/cm) superconducting wire at speeds 2 to 10 times faster than competitors. It is known as the only technology capable of lowering wire prices below 10 dollars/kAm.