Three Aspirations of CEO Kwon-gyu Gu Making His First Official Appearance in 3 Years

Strong Momentum Makes IPO a Matter of Time
Fostering the US's Largest Submarine Cable Company
Expanding High-Value Busducts

Koo Bon-gyu, CEO of LS Cable & System, made his first public appearance in three years since his appointment as CEO. On the 5th, he attended Investor Day and personally introduced the company's vision and business progress. Before becoming CEO of LS Cable & System, the founding company of the LS Group, at the end of 2021, he had already gained experience in securing orders in the United States. After three years as president, he declared his goal to become the largest submarine cable operator in the U.S. The challenges for Koo Bon-gyu’s leadership include establishing a mass production system for submarine cables in Virginia, U.S., listing on the domestic stock market, resolving technical disputes with Daehan Cable, and securing power solutions contracts for AI data centers of domestic and international big tech companies.

Koo Bon-gyu, CEO of LS Cable & System. [Photo by LS Cable & System]

At his first public appearance, CEO Koo directly mentioned the domestic stock listing of LS Cable & System. He said, "Just because the future looks bright doesn’t mean we can list immediately," but added, "I don’t think it’s a very distant future." He acknowledged that the stock market situation could vary depending on investor sentiment, but industry insiders widely believe that given CEO Koo’s drive to restructure subsidiaries after establishing a business model, the listing of LS Cable & System is only a matter of time. Looking at the recent one-year stock price increases of subsidiaries (LS Eco Energy 139.9%, LS Marine Solutions 45.7%, LS Electric 48.4%), demand for power cables remains strong.

CEO Koo’s main focus market is the United States. He stated that the U.S. submarine cable business will be in full swing starting in 2028, as production will begin after the factory’s completion in 2027. The plan is to become the largest submarine cable operator in the U.S. and create synergy with the subsidiaries LS Eco Energy’s businesses in Vietnam and Europe. CEO Koo said he is making every effort to build a 'trawl-net style' network. By securing construction permits from the Virginia state government, the company received subsidies and tax benefits worth $48 million (approximately 64 billion KRW). Additionally, the U.S. government granted $99 million (approximately 132.5 billion KRW) in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) support funds. CEO Koo introduced, "A few months ago, I met with members of the U.S. Congress to explain why LS Cable & System benefits the U.S. and how it helps the federal, state, and city governments."

CEO Koo is also leading the expansion of the company’s flagship product, busducts. Busducts are high value-added products that supply power by placing flat conductors inside a metal case. They are used instead of cables when supplying large amounts of power to factories and IDCs. Using busducts in IDCs can reduce power consumption by about 30% compared to cables.

Since the end of last year, LS Cable & System has been delivering to ▲ LG Energy Solution’s joint venture Ultium Cells’ third factory ▲ Stellantis’ electric vehicle (EV) battery joint venture 'NextEnergy' battery factory in Canada ▲ and has started construction of a busduct factory in Mexico. The increase in AI data centers, which consume 5 to 10 times more power than conventional data centers, is also a positive factor for the busduct business. Power cables alone cannot meet the demand, so busduct demand is rising. Domestically, new factories such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s semiconductor cluster industrial complex in Yongin are scheduled to begin construction soon.

CEO Koo was appointed CEO of LS Cable & System at the end of 2021 and promoted to president at the end of 2022. Especially, after LS Cable & System completed Asia’s largest high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable factory in Donghae, Gangwon Province, in May last year, the company began to stand out in the business. At that time, CEO Koo used the phrase 'major upward trend' to demonstrate his insight into power industry trends. Upon completion of the HVDC specialized factory, he emphasized, "In the era of energy transition and the major upward trend of the power industry, this will serve as a growth accelerator."