Youlchon Chemical said on Wednesday that it has won a deal worth around 1.5 trillion won from Ultium Cells, the electric vehicle battery joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors.
The deal will last from January 2023 to December 2028, the company said.
The battery film sector is dominated by Japanese companies such as Dai Nippon Printing and Showa Denko globally.
So far, Chinese and South Korean companies had so far only served mostly local customer bases and major battery companies would always use mostly Japanese-made films.
South Korean companies like Youlchon began aggressively developing films after Japan’s trade restriction against South Korea was imposed in 2018.
The restriction had increased worries from South Korea-based battery companies that their supply chain for the material could be jeopardized.
LG Energy Solution had reviewed pouch film batteries from multiple South Korean companies but most of them failed the quality review prior to Youlchon Chemical.
Youlchon Chemical also passed Samsung SDI’s quality test for small pouch-type batteries last year.
Pouch films account for around 10% of the cost of making a pouch-type battery and is made out of nylon, aluminum and other materials.
Besides Youlchon Chemical, other South Korean companies making them include Korea Aluminum and BTL Advanced Materials.
