SK Nexilis will be supplying its copper foil to US electric car firm Tesla.
SK Nexilis CEO Kim Young-tae said on Friday at the conference call for the company’s first quarter earnings that the firm will be supplying battery copper foil to a US-based company “T”.
Kim didn’t directly mention the name of the company but it is obviously Tesla.
SK Nexilis will be supplying its products to the US-based company through Japan’s Panasonic, the CEO said.
Copper foils made in its fifth factory at Jeongeup is expected to be sold starting in the second half of the year, Kim also said.
The fifth factory has started operation and SK Nexilis has agreed with its customer to shorten the verification process (process change notification), the CEO added.
The sixth factory, which is currently under construction, may also start production and sales earlier than planned, he said.
SK Nexilis is planning to start construction of its first factory at Malaysia in July. The factory will begin production in the second half of 2023.
The firm was reviewing ways to secure the 730 billion won to 750 billion won fund needed for the factory, Kim said.
SK Nexilis is also reviewing potential additional spending in Europe and US to expand its production capacity.
The firm is aiming to expand its production capacity for copper foil by five times its current levels by 2025.
Parent company SKC recorded 784.6 billion won in sales and 81.8 billion won in operating income in the first quarter. This was an increase of 23% and 175%, respectively.
SK Nexilis contributed 142 billion won in sales and 16.7 billion won in operating income to this. High demand from electric car market allowed the unit to post record quarterly sales.
The semiconductor material business recorded 106.3 billion won in sales and 3.9 billion won in operating income. It saw high sales from its chemical-mechanical polishing operation.
