It is very rare for the President of the United States to reject an ITC decision. Therefore, in the related industry, it is particularly remarkable whether the two countries will reach an agreement within the next 60 days, as the meaning of the recent ruling is wide and the battery industry is important to the future economy of Korea.
The global electric vehicle battery market is expected to reach 215 trillion won in 2030. The three major domestic companies, LG Energy Solutions, SK Innovation, and Samsung SDI, accounted for 34.7% of the global market last year, and competition is fierce. In particular, LG Energy Solutions, which has the No. 1 market share comparable to China’s CATL, has the world’s No. 1 technology level. SK Innovation is also striving to become a world-class company by building factories in Shio, the US and Georgia. However, Chinese and Japanese companies are also working to expand their market share, and the European Battery Alliance has begun supplying batteries to the domestic market.
The dispute between LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation is closely related to the interests of the U.S. state government and the supply chain problems of automobile manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Ford and Kia. Only foreign companies can benefit if the fight becomes a pride competition with no real profit. These worst cases should be avoided under any circumstances.
There are cases of disputes between foreign companies of the same origin. However, in this way, it is common to pursue competition in good faith and reach a partnership or strategic agreement with the national interest in mind when it comes to major issues in the future of the country. LG and SK should be aware that the recent disagreement will ignore the problems of both countries and this will have a major impact on overall industrial competitiveness in the future. The most important thing is to open communication channels where you can freely exchange honest opinions with real decision-making power. Reasonable and win-win solutions can only be found in honest conversations.
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