'Marche' Combines ESS and UPS into One
Successfully Replaces Foreign Products in the Public Sector
Head-to-Head with Global Top 3 and Chinese Competitors
"Ultimately, the only way for a company to grow is through technology. Technology and manpower, that's all there is."
Kang Seung-ho, CEO of Ion, a comprehensive power solutions company, emphasized this when he met with reporters at the headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on the 20th. The meeting also served as the '2025 1st Innobiz PR-day' hosted by the Korea Technology Innovation Association (Innobiz Association).
During difficult times for the company, there were even internal calls to "abolish the research and development (R&D) department." CEO Kang recalled, "I believed that neglecting R&D meant no future for the company." His voice reflected a strong determination to invest more in R&D from now on and lay the foundation for entering the global market, aiming to become one of the top three global companies in the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) market.
Breaking the Stereotype That 'Domestic Products Won't Work' with 'Marche (MARCHE)'
Since its founding in 2002, Ion has been a small but strong company building technological expertise in the power and electronics fields. As of 2023, it has 93 employees and sales of 44.7 billion KRW, making it a small company, but its technology rivals that of large corporations. Domestically, Ion independently developed the hybrid UPS 'Marche (MARCHE),' which integrates energy storage systems (ESS) and UPS for the first time in Korea.
UPS is a critical facility that supplies power to data centers and other IT infrastructure. Any momentary disruption in power supply can cause service interruptions and severe data loss. The hybrid UPS stores electricity using ESS functionality during normal times to manage peak power and supplies battery power seamlessly through UPS functionality during power outages. This eliminates the need to install UPS and ESS separately, reducing installation space, initial investment costs, and power expenses.
Kang Seung-ho, CEO of Eon, is explaining the flagship product 'Marche' at the '2025 1st Innobiz PR-day' held on the 20th. Provided by the Innobiz Association
The flagship product 'Marche LM' achieves power operation efficiency of up to 97.5%, and 'Marche P' reaches 99.5%. Considering that typical UPS efficiency is around 94-95%, these products have significant competitiveness. Based on this technological capability, Ion secured national certifications such as NEP (New Excellent Product) in 2016 and NET (New Excellent Technology) in 2020. In 2017, it was designated as an excellent procurement product, successfully pushing out foreign products that dominated the public market. Furthermore, Ion effectively responds to the government's power system impact assessments and the Special Act on the Activation of Distributed Energy, enacted in June last year. CEO Kang stated, "We aim to achieve localization not only in the public sector but also in the private market, and based on this, expand overseas to become a global top-tier company."
No Compromise on R&D… Achieved 'T3,' the Highest Technology Grade for Unlisted Companies
"I believe existing UPS companies were neglected because they overlooked R&D and had poor quality,"
CEO Kang repeatedly emphasized his firm management philosophy regarding R&D. The technological strength he highlighted has translated into actual market success. Ion currently supplies products to numerous public institutions and large corporations, including the Korea Meteorological Administration, the Supreme Court, and LG Uplus. He confidently stated, "We hold a 70-80% market share in the large UPS market above 300kVA, and there are no competitors domestically for large product lines."
Ion's workforce consists of 59% technical staff, including 23 employees with master's or doctoral degrees. The R&D investment accounts for about 6% of total sales. CEO Kang explained, "This is a fairly large R&D organization for a small and medium-sized enterprise." Ion was designated as an Excellent Company Research Institute (ATC+) in 2021 and notably obtained the 'T3' technology evaluation grade, which meets the requirements for KOSDAQ technology special listing. This is the highest level of grade available to unlisted companies, awarded based on comprehensive high scores in technology, marketability, and business feasibility.
CEO Kang said, "As we value our technical personnel, we also focus on employee welfare." Ion's average annual salary ranges from 60 to 70 million KRW, with additional performance bonuses. Welfare benefits include smoking cessation allowances, condolence payments, group insurance, book purchase subsidies, lunch allowances, university tuition for employees' children, health checkups, as well as a comfortable working environment with casual dress code, an in-house cafeteria, and individual laptops. He added, "We actively maintain exchanges with universities to secure outstanding talent."
Global Top 3 and Competition with Chinese Products… Ion's Survival Strategy
Ion currently competes not only with the global UPS top three manufacturers?Schneider, Vertiv, and Eaton?but also with low-cost Chinese products. CEO Kang said, "We operate a cost reduction task force (TF) and are securing certifications for overseas market entry, including Southeast Asia." Additionally, Ion is preparing an additional building for increased production and product testing, scheduled to be operational from the second half of this year. The company also aims to achieve sales of 150 billion KRW within the next three years and to list on KOSDAQ.
CEO Kang expressed, "As we enter the era of AI transformation (AX) through AI innovation, stable and efficient power supply is essential to manage vast amounts of data reliably. Ion will continue technological innovation to evolve beyond a comprehensive power solutions company into an 'eco-friendly smart solutions company' responsible for the entire process of building power infrastructure."
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