Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Rival firms SK Nexilis, ILJIN to neighbor in Kuching, Malaysia
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
The concerns of ILJIN Materials are set to become a reality as its rival firm SK Nexilis is on track to build plants near to its established factories in Malaysia.
The SK affiliate which manufactures copper foil for EV batteries appears to have selected such sites in the Southeast Asian country for the construction of multiple plants.
A board meeting will finalize the decision before the end of the year, according to the company.
"The decision reached after visiting the multiple candidate sites this year will be finalized at a board meeting, which is usually held in the latter half of every month," an SK Nexilis official said, Tuesday. "The decision was made based on the advantages provided by local governments in terms of investments," he said, not denying reports about selecting plants in Malaysia.
Earlier in August, reports from local media in Malaysia stated that Korean investors had expressed interest in investing 800 billion won in setting up factories in the state of Sarawak, and that local authorities pledged their support for the investments to be carried out.
The official said ILJIN was not a factor that was taken into consideration. The issue for ILJIN Materials is that it has a presence adjacent to the sites on which SK is seeking to build its plants. ILJIN's plant in Kuching, Sarawak, was completed in January 2019.
"While SK Nexilis has yet to reach a decision, we have reasonable grounds to be concerned given our history with the company," an ILJIN official said.
He referred to LG Metal ― later renamed to SK Nexilis ― building a plant in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, 30 minutes away from Iksan, where its own factory was located.
"At the time, the company recruited 15 engineers from our factory," the official said.
ILJIN fears the same scenario will unfold if SK decides to construct plants at the sites in Malaysia.
"We can only be at a disadvantage, given SK is a conglomerate and we are only an SME," he said.
ILJIN, meanwhile, said it decided on its location in Malaysia given its client Samsung SDI's factory is in Kuala Lumpur.
"While Kuching is not the best location given the heat and humidity which are unfavorable to copper foil manufacturing, the decision was based on our client's location," the official said.
"It took years of trial and error to be able to manufacture copper foil in unfavorable circumstances, know-how which could easily be stolen by recruiting employees from existing plants."
Both companies are among top rankings in the global market for copper foil manufacturing, along with CCP of Taiwan, Lingbao Wason of China.
According to Macquarie Research, CCP led the copper foil market last year with a share of 19 percent, followed by Lingbao Wason with 16 percent, SK Nexilis with 16 percent and ILJIN Materials with 14 percent. Macquarie forecast the rankings would change in coming years, with SK Nexilis and ILJIN Materials leading the pack as they increase their copper supply.
SK Group's chemicals unit SKC acquired KCF Technologies in June 2019 and renamed the company SK Nexilis in April this year.