EcoPro BM to Supply Samsung SDI with 44 Trillion Won Worth of Cathode Materials Over 5 Years

Supply from Hungary starting in 2025

EcoPro BM will supply cathode materials worth 44 trillion KRW (based on the recent average supply price) to Samsung SDI over five years.

EcoPro BM to Supply Samsung SDI with 44 Trillion Won Worth of Cathode Materials Over 5 Years

EcoPro BM announced on the 3rd, "On the 1st, we signed a contract with Samsung SDI to supply battery cathode materials from next year until 2028," adding, "The 2024 volume will be supplied from the Pohang campus, and from 2025 onwards, we plan to supply Samsung SDI's Hungary plant locally."

EcoPro is currently constructing the EcoPro Global Hungary plant in Debrecen, Hungary, aiming for mass production in 2025. Construction began in April this year. The total project cost is 1.3 trillion KRW, with a production capacity of approximately 108,000 tons.

Along with EcoPro BM, EcoPro Innovation, which will handle the lithium hydroxide process, and EcoPro AP, which supplies nitrogen and oxygen, will participate in the Hungary plant as EcoPro affiliates. EcoPro explained that this is to reduce manufacturing costs and enhance synergy.

Joo Jae-hwan, CEO of EcoPro BM (right), and Kim Ik-hyun, Vice President of Samsung SDI, are posing for a commemorative photo on the 1st after signing a mid- to long-term supply contract at the EcoPro BM headquarters in Cheongju, Chungbuk. Photo by EcoPro BM

EcoPro began actively supplying high-nickel cathode materials to Samsung SDI in 2011. In 2021, the two companies established a joint venture, EcoPro EM. The cumulative volume supplied by EcoPro to Samsung SDI reached a total of 200,000 tons by the end of last year.

At the signing ceremony, Joo Jae-hwan, CEO of EcoPro BM, said, "EcoPro and Samsung SDI play a significant role in strengthening the status of our battery industry under a mutually trusted partnership," adding, "This long-term supply contract will serve as an opportunity to solidify the cooperative relationship between the two companies."

Kim Ik-hyun, Vice President of Samsung SDI, stated, "By stably receiving EcoPro's cathode materials, which lead the high-nickel cathode material market, Samsung SDI's cell competitiveness is also increasing."