Samsung SDI invests KRW 1 trillion in electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary

Input 2021.02.23 17:08 | Revision 2021.02.23 19:44

Samsung SDI (006400)Will invest about 1 trillion won to expand the production capacity of the electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary. It is a strategy to accelerate its attack on the fast-growing European electric vehicle market through aggressive expansion.

Samsung SDI announced on the 23rd that the Hungarian subsidiary, which is a 100% subsidiary, has decided to issue a capital increase of 403.7 billion won to shareholders for the purpose of raising facility funds. In addition, Samsung SDI decided to provide a debt guarantee of 538.3 billion won to the Hungarian subsidiary. Through this, the funds raised by Samsung SDI’s Hungarian subsidiary amounted to about 94 billion won. An official from Samsung SDI explained that it was “financing for the expansion of the second plant in Hungary.”

Samsung SDI is operating a 30GWh (gigawatt hour) battery plant in the northern Hungarian region of Goed. It produces batteries to be supplied to European automakers such as BMW and Volkswagen. With this expansion investment, the production capacity of the Hungary plant is expected to increase to the high 40GWh. Samsung SDI said in a conference call for its earnings announcement last month that it plans to expand capacity in Hungary this year.

Domestic battery makers are accelerating the expansion of European production bases to respond to the rapidly increasing European electric vehicle demand. The battery industry predicts that European battery demand will increase more than six times from 41GWh at present to 256GWh by 2025.

previously SK innovation (096770)It also announced that it will build a third battery factory in Avan Motor, Hungary by investing 1.2 trillion won. LG Energy Solutions also decided to increase the production capacity of the Polish battery plant. In addition to the three domestic battery companies, CATL in China is also planning to start operating a battery plant in Germany.