Sustainability for Survival: Strategies for Korean Batterymakers in the European Market

Europe is a major market for the Korean battery industry. LG Energy Solution was the first of Korea’s three major battery players — LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On — to enter the European market in 2016, when its battery plant in Wroclaw, Poland went online. It was followed by Samsung SDI cutting the ribbon on a battery plant in G d, Hungary. SK On was the next to launch manufacturing operations in Europe with its first European plant, Kom rom 1, in 2017. These and other Korean battery firms have continued to make major investments in European facilities, and this has resulted in Korean firms having carved out a sizable share of the European battery market. But Chinese firms have quickly come to occupy an enormous slice of the market, surging from just 11.8 percent in 2019 to 45.1 percent by Q2 2024. With Korean firms collectively holding a 51 percent share of the market, we can see that Chinese batterymakers have almost completely closed the gap. China could overtake Korea in as little as two years. We suspect that, given recent trends, Korean batterymakers are likely to face continued headwinds in the European market, and face comparatively more challenges than their Chinese counterparts. In this study, we argue that the most critical factor that will determine the future success of batterymakers in the European market will be how effectively they can respond to the EU Battery Regulation (EUBR) Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) requirements.