In a bid to expand the portion of its sales in battery materials, sustainability business and innovative new drugs, the largest Korean chemical company, LG Chem, has announced its business strategy, aiming to grow its battery materials sales sixfold to 30 trillion Korean won by 2030 from 4.7 trillion won in 2022. And also established a global quadrilateral production system, connecting Korea, China, U.S. and Europe.
Shin Hak-Cheol, LG Chem’s CEO disclosed this in a keynote speech at the BofA 2023 Korea & Global EV/EV Battery conference held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul today May 16. According to him, the Korean-based firm aims to accelerate in reaching net zero by 2050 by proactively building an integrated low-carbon management system.
“Despite under emergency management amidst the never-before pandemic and geoeconomic conflicts, LG Chem has been proactively fostering new growth powers based on global megatrends and strategies on sustainability, “said Mr Shin from LG Chem. “You will be able to see and feel LG Chem’s axis moving towards the next big three engines: battery materials, sustainability businesses and innovative new drugs.”
Expanding Battery Materials
In the statement the firm acknowledged that it plans to leap forward as the world’s leading battery materials provider with KRW 30 trillion about $25.5 billion in sales by 2030, backed by a compound annual growth rate of 26%. Explaining how it tends to achieve this, the firm said it plans to cultivate its business in additional battery materials such as separators and carbon nanotubes, in addition to the already-prominent cathode materials.
Additionally, LG Chem said it will actively promote research and development efforts in new materials including pure silicon anode materials and solid-state battery electrolytes and also strengthen its market leadership by establishing a global quadrilateral production system, connecting Korea, China, U.S. and Europe, to make cathodes. Therefore, this will help LG expand its production capacity from 120,000 metric tons in 2023 to 470,000 metric tons by 2028.
Innovating New Drugs
By 2030, LG Chem is forecasted to become a pharmaceutical company with five new FDA-approved drugs and sales of KRW 2 trillion. Here, the firm plans to continue commercializing new drugs by concentrating on oncology and metabolic therapeutics.
According to the firm, it has acquired AVEO, a U.S. company with an FDA-approved new drug FOTIVDA, to strengthen its business competitiveness in the U.S. Moreover, the company is considering escalating the development of new oncology drugs and introducing promising new drug substances.
Meanwhile, the firm further added that it will continue to strengthen its sustainability business by accelerating the transition of its business structure around recycled, bio/biodegradable and renewable energy materials. To achieve this LG Chem has targeted to boost sales in this sector to KRW 8 trillion about $6.8 billion) by 2030 from KRW 1.9 trillion about $1.6 billion in 2022.
Reaching A Net Zero by 2050
Elucidating how it tends to reach a net zero by 2050, LG Chem said it will be proactively building an integrated low-carbon management system. As we all know the firm is Korea’s industry-first company to establish an integrated carbon management system that enables real-time support when making financial decisions such as reviewing profits/losses and evaluating investment priorities.
“We have been making grinding efforts to revolutionize our overall business management system – we have reformed our business portfolio, established business processes based on digital transformation (DX), and reinforced operational capabilities of our offices in four major global regions,” said Mr Shin. “We will mature our groundwork for sustainable growth and speed up our grand transition into a global science company with three core businesses: battery materials, sustainability business, and innovative new drugs.”
