'Ecopro's 26th Anniversary' Lee Dong-chae: "Battery Crisis May Last 3 to 5 Years"

"Super-gap Technology and Cost Leadership to Change Industry Landscape"
Strengthening Commitment to Securing Technological and Price Competitiveness through Integrated Anode Material Business in Indonesia

On the 22nd, at the 26th anniversary founding ceremony of EcoPro, Lee Dong-chae, former chairman of EcoPro (center), is taking a commemorative photo after presenting the EcoPro In (人) Award. Photo by EcoPro

Lee Dong-chae, former chairman of EcoPro, announced on the occasion of the company's 26th anniversary that they will maximize the competitiveness of cathode materials through breakthrough technology and cost leadership.

EcoPro held its 26th anniversary ceremony at the Pohang campus on the 22nd and declared its intention to maximize the competitiveness of ternary cathode materials to overcome the current chasm. In his anniversary speech, former EcoPro chairman Lee Dong-chae urged employees to devote their full efforts to the successful advancement of the integrated cathode material business in Indonesia to overcome the current chasm crisis.

Lee reflected, "Looking back, there has not been a single day without a crisis in the 26 years EcoPro has walked," adding, "By turning crises into opportunities and choosing the future rather than settling for the present, we have grown into an eco-friendly company with 3,500 employees and a major player in the secondary battery industry."

He also admitted, "As ternary batteries rapidly grew based on high-nickel (nickel content over 80%) technology, we became complacent and neglected securing technological and cost competitiveness," diagnosing that "the current crisis may last three years or five years."

As a solution to the crisis, Lee proposed the establishment of an integrated cathode material corporation in Indonesia in partnership with China's GEM. He stated, "Securing breakthrough technology leadership and cost leadership is essential to change the landscape of the secondary battery business," and added, "By joining forces with China's GEM to complete the value chain from mining and refining to cathode materials and recycling, we can leap forward as a global leading company."

The battery materials business consists of four major ecosystem sectors: mining, refining, precursors, and cathode materials. GEM operates a refinery in Indonesia capable of producing 150,000 tons of nickel, securing world-class competitiveness at the lowest end of the battery materials value chain. EcoPro is the global number one company in high-nickel cathode materials.

Exterior view of the Ecopro headquarters located in Cheongju, Chungbuk. Photo by Ecopro

The two companies expect that by building a cathode material value chain from refining to precursors to cathode materials, they will achieve revolutionary cost competitiveness, leading to innovations that could shake up the cathode material market.

Lee urged, "To sustain growth as a better and bigger EcoPro, let us establish and practice an innovation culture that embraces differentiated breakthrough technology, creative and flexible thinking, and fearless new challenges."

Meanwhile, at the anniversary ceremony, EcoPro also awarded outstanding employees and long-term service employees who have practiced the company's core values of change, innovation, challenge, and trust. The EcoPro People Award recipients were Senior Manager Jo Kwon of the EcoPro Global Resources Division and Manager Jo Min-su of the EcoPro BM Materials Analysis Team.

EcoPro started on October 22, 1998, in Seocho-dong, Seoul, with just one employee. After 26 years, the number of employees has grown to about 3,500, and the company has become the global number one high-nickel cathode material company.