Jidongseop SK On CEO Awarded 'Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit' for Contributions to Battery Industry Development

Awarded at the 'Battery Day' Commemoration Ceremony

Jidongseop, CEO of SK On. Photo by SK On

Jidongseop, CEO of SK On, will receive the Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit in recognition of his contributions to the battery industry at the '3rd Battery Industry Day Ceremony' held on the afternoon of the 1st at Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

CEO Ji achieved a cumulative 'large-scale global order' worth 290 trillion KRW from global automakers such as Hyundai Motor Group, Ford, and Volkswagen. He was recognized for leading the growth of the domestic battery industry by increasing battery business sales from 690.3 billion KRW in 2019 to 7.6177 trillion KRW last year, more than 11 times in three years.

In particular, since CEO Ji took office in 2019, SK On has operated or started construction of factories in three locations in the U.S. (Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky), two in Europe (Kom?rom, Hungary; Ivan?ice), and three in China (Changzhou, Huizhou, Yancheng), solidifying a global production system.

Additionally, over the past three years, SK On has created quality jobs by hiring 2,481 additional employees domestically and significantly contributed to the development of the domestic battery industry ecosystem by introducing over 90% domestically produced equipment at overseas production bases.

In fact, at SK On’s sole U.S. factory, Georgia Plant 1, Korean companies’ equipment accounts for 96% of the production facilities by value. SK On has also been recognized for world-class technology with high-nickel batteries such as NCM 9 (nickel content over 90%).

SK On received the Best Innovation Award at CES, the world’s largest IT exhibition, this year and won a bronze medal at the Edison Awards, the most prestigious invention award in the U.S. The NCM9 battery is a high-performance high-nickel battery with nickel content raised to about 90%, first developed globally by SK On in 2019.

Last month, SK On ranked joint first in Fortune magazine’s ‘Change the World’ list of innovative companies transforming the world. This is the highest ranking ever achieved by a global battery manufacturer.

CEO Jidongseop graduated from Seoul National University with degrees in Physics and Economics. After joining Yukong, the predecessor of SK Innovation, in 1990, he served as CEO of SK Lubricants and head of SK Innovation’s battery business. Since SK On’s spin-off in October 2021, he has been the inaugural CEO of SK On.

CEO Ji stated, "SK On has maintained a rapid growth trend with sales doubling every year, and we will also focus on improving profitability through sound management going forward. Based on mutual cooperation with our partners, we will strive even harder to elevate the status of the Korean battery industry." The Korea Battery Industry Association designated November 1 as Battery Industry Day to commemorate the achievements of the battery industry, a national strategic industry, on the 10th anniversary of its founding in 2021.