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Benefiting from the rapid advancement of global vehicle electrification, the battery business of LG New Energy, Panasonic, SK On and Samsung SDI have all achieved high rapid growth in 2021.
So far, the above four overseas battery giants have all released their 2021 financial reports. Among them, LG New Energy revenue was about 100.8 billion yuan (the same below), ranking first among the four battery enterprises, with Samsung SDI revenue of 82.1 billion yuan, Panasonic battery revenue of 36.43 billion yuan and SK On revenue of 18.42 billion yuan. In terms of operating profit, LG New Energy has achieved a profit of 5.5 billion yuan, an increase of 49% year-on-year, turning losses into profits. Samsung SDI was about 1.61 billion yuan, a year-on -year increase of 8.0%; Panasonic battery operating profit was 1.14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 275.80%. SK On suffered a huge loss of 4.14 billion yuan in operating profit. SK On suffered huge losses was mainly due to the increase in operating costs, R&D and one-time expenditures of its US plant Phrase Ⅰ and its Hungarian plant Phrase Ⅱ.
LG New Energy said that as global vehicle enterprises increasing the promotion of electric vehicle models, the demand for soft pack batteries and cylindrical batteries has increased correspondingly, which has driven the rapid growth of its profits. It is worth noting that in October 2021, General Motors and LG New Energy reached an agreement on the recall cost of Chevrolet Bolt, and LG New Energy agreed to compensate General Motors up to 1.9 billion US dollars (about 12.25 billion yuan), which has a significant impact on its 2021 performance. Similarly, SK On has made a huge amount of compensation to LG New Energy due to the trade secret and patent disputes with New Energy, which has also had an impact on its 2021 profits.
In terms of capacity, according to CBEA as of the end of 2021, LG New Energy capacity was about 165GWh. The expansion of Panasonic US plant has been completed, with a capacity of 39GWh. Its global power battery capacity is about 89GWh by the end of 2021. Samsung SDI also actively expanded the production capacity of its second plant in Hungary last year. SK On also increased the global power battery capacity layout in 2021.
In 2022, the above-mentioned overseas battery enterprises are still actively expanding their production capacity. Among them, LG New Energy stated that it will continue to increase equipment investment this year and steadily expand its production capacity. In 2022, it plans to invest 6.3 trillion won (about 32.6 billion yuan), an increase of 58% year-on-year. The main investment projects include joint venture plant of General Motors, the capacity expansion and R&D investment in production bases in Michigan and China. Panasonic Battery is considering building a second power battery factory in the United States, and is expected to produce 4680 cylindrical batteries to meet the support needs of Tesla and other vehicles. In addition, Samsung SDI is also considering building a large-scale power battery plant in North American through cooperation with Stellantis.
Source: Ofweek lithium battery