SK Inno “The final decision of ITC is catastrophic … may give up battery factories in the US”

The US International Trade Commission (ITC)’s decision to ban the import and sale of battery products in the US in relation to the’LG battery trade secret infringement incident’ was “disastrous.” In addition, it is the position that it could give up the US battery factory.

According to the battery industry on the 28th, SK Innovation recently petitioned ITC to postpone the ITC’s final decision to ban the import of battery products in the US for 10 years.

In this petition, SK Innovation said, “This remedy order from the committee is catastrophic,” and “It will harm not only SK, but also the public interests of the United States in the long term.”

“SK is building a billion-dollar electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, USA,” he said. “The commission’s order will eventually lead to abandonment of the Georgia battery plant, which will create thousands of jobs and environments. The enemy’s value will disappear.”

ITC believes that on the 10th of last month (local time), SK Innovation infringed on battery trade secrets by subtracting the core manpower of LG Energy Solutions (at the time, LG Chem). Accordingly, SK Batteries and parts were not imported or sold to the U.S. for 10 years.

SK Innovation requested the ITC to postpone the execution of the remedy order until the appeal of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in the future, taking into account the negative effects that the ITC decision may have.

SK Innovation is building a battery plant 1 (9.8GWh) and plant 2 (11.7GWh) for electric vehicles in Georgia, USA. They are targeting mass production in the first quarter of next year and the next year, respectively, and the total investment amount is 3 trillion won.

The President of the United States may review the ITC decision for 60 days and exercise the veto for reasons such as public interest. The deadline for exercising the presidential veto is until the 11th of next month (local time).

Accordingly, major executives, including SK Innovation general president Kim Joon and the former head of the trade negotiation headquarters Kim Jong-hoon, SK Innovation’s chairman of the board of directors, have recently stayed in the United States and are persuading the president to exercise his veto.

It is expected that SK Innovation will appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals if the U.S. president’s veto is not exercised.