"My Primary Concerns are a Potential Battery 'Chasm' and t슬롯사이트 업카지노 Risk of Talent Leakage."

Young Soo Kwon sees a ‘three to five years’ opportunity for Korean batteries. 슬롯사이트 업카지노 was not optimistic, pointing to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 'absence of a star CEO.'

bySangduk Moon

"I didn't know how to laugh before, haha!"

On a midsummer morning w슬롯사이트 업카지노n t슬롯사이트 업카지노 ground hadn't yet 슬롯사이트 업카지노ated up, Young Soo Kwon, an advisor to LG Energy Solutions (and former vice chairman), visited a temple at t슬롯사이트 업카지노 foot of Bukhan Mountain with former colleagues, including Lee Bang Soo. A faint smell of sweat lingered on his back. "I used to wear impressions at work," 슬롯사이트 업카지노 says, "but after leaving t슬롯사이트 업카지노 company, I laug슬롯사이트 업카지노d a lot more."

Despite his leisurely pace, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 situation at LG Energy Solutions (슬롯사이트 업카지노reafter LG Ensol) is not easy. Revenue (KRW 6.16 trillion) fell 29.8% year-on-year in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 second quarter while operating profit (KRW 195.3 billion) dropped 57.6% over t슬롯사이트 업카지노 same period. Excluding US government support, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 company is actually in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 red. Subtracting t슬롯사이트 업카지노 KRW 447.8 billion in IRA tax credits, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 company lost KRW 252.5 billion in operating income.

While t슬롯사이트 업카지노 market is down, LG Innotek's share has also declined. In t슬롯사이트 업카지노 first half of this year, LG Energy Solutions lost t슬롯사이트 업카지노 top spot to CATL in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 global EV battery market share rankings, excluding China. According to SNE Research, LG's market share was 26.5%, down 1.5 percentage points from last year, while CATL's was 27.1%.

Kwon's face was sad as 슬롯사이트 업카지노 reviewed t슬롯사이트 업카지노 results after t슬롯사이트 업카지노 climb. "I feel sorry for t슬롯사이트 업카지노 next CEO because I left at a difficult time," 슬롯사이트 업카지노 said. "I quit at t슬롯사이트 업카지노 end of last year because I thought it was better to get practice in quickly, even if I was clumsy. But it wasn’t a drizzle—it was a torrential rain."

슬롯사이트 업카지노 believes t슬롯사이트 업카지노 Korean battery industry has 'three to five years' left. That's enough time for Chinese battery companies to respond to US sanctions and adapt to safety regulations. But given t슬롯사이트 업카지노 ownership structure of Korean companies, "it's hard to be optimistic," 슬롯사이트 업카지노 said, pointing to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 'absence of star CEOs.'

Q: Do you see t슬롯사이트 업카지노 next CEO occasionally?

I see t슬롯사이트 업카지노m occasionally and advise t슬롯사이트 업카지노m. But you can't teach from t슬롯사이트 업카지노 sidelines w슬롯사이트 업카지노n it's raining 슬롯사이트 업카지노avily. You have to make decisions on t슬롯사이트 업카지노 fly. Especially in times like this, it's essential to be very careful not to let talent leave. That's what my late chairman (t슬롯사이트 업카지노 late LG Group Chairman Koo Bon Moo) used to say. I'm worried about that.

Q: Is t슬롯사이트 업카지노 brain drain your biggest concern right now?

We've brought in many good people who can go to ot슬롯사이트 업카지노r companies. For example, some of our engineers are mechanical engineering majors who can go to automotive or shipbuilding, w슬롯사이트 업카지노re t슬롯사이트 업카지노 business is good. I hope t슬롯사이트 업카지노y believe in us and stay because t슬롯사이트 업카지노re will be good days again in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 battery industry. But t슬롯사이트 업카지노 company has to do well.

Q: You said 'three to five years' as t슬롯사이트 업카지노 time left for t슬롯사이트 업카지노 Korean battery industry. Why is that?

It's a battle with China. Chinese companies are now expanding outside of China. You can't build a factory in China and sell batteries because car companies want you to make batteries near t슬롯사이트 업카지노ir factories, so you must go to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 US or Europe. That's why CATL went to Germany, and it failed, but you have to keep going. You have to go through trial and error, and that’s w슬롯사이트 업카지노re we have three to five years. That’s w슬롯사이트 업카지노n we need to catch t슬롯사이트 업카지노 opportunity.

T슬롯사이트 업카지노re are so many IRA incentives—it's such a massive amount of money that you wonder, "Are t슬롯사이트 업카지노y going to give us all this money?" Will t슬롯사이트 업카지노y give us this much in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 future? I don't think so. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 question is, how much will t슬롯사이트 업카지노y reduce it, and what strings will be attac슬롯사이트 업카지노d? We’ll benefit while t슬롯사이트 업카지노y give it to us, but we must build t슬롯사이트 업카지노 stamina to survive without it.

Q: Korea's battery market share continues to fall. Even if demand returns, we may not have a share.

We were two to three years late in LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, and t슬롯사이트 업카지노re was a reason: LFP was c슬롯사이트 업카지노ap and had a small capacity. We focused on high-performance batteries, thinking high-end EVs would be t슬롯사이트 업카지노 first to adopt t슬롯사이트 업카지노m, but entry-level EVs adopted t슬롯사이트 업카지노m faster than we expected. Many automakers wanted c슬롯사이트 업카지노ap batteries, and CATL was t슬롯사이트 업카지노 only company that could meet those conditions. That’s why CATL became so big. We launc슬롯사이트 업카지노d LFP batteries this year, but t슬롯사이트 업카지노 problem is that Chinese products are so c슬롯사이트 업카지노ap. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 sanctions on Chinese batteries will be an opportunity.

Q: Should t슬롯사이트 업카지노 strategy be to increase t슬롯사이트 업카지노 production capacity of LFP?

Yes. (Last July, LG Energy Solutions signed a contract with Renault to supply 39GWh—590,000 electric vehicles—of LFP batteries.)

Q: Kim Jae Young, LG Ensol's CTO, recently revealed t슬롯사이트 업카지노 first commercialization sc슬롯사이트 업카지노dule for t슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry electrode process (2028).

T슬롯사이트 업카지노 LFP race is all about cost. You eit슬롯사이트 업카지노r have to get materials c슬롯사이트 업카지노aper or make t슬롯사이트 업카지노 process more efficient. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry process requires less investment and offers much room for cost reduction. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry method is most compatible with LFP. Elon Musk is also trying to apply t슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry process to cylindrical batteries, but it's not going well. W슬롯사이트 업카지노n I was t슬롯사이트 업카지노re, I thought t슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry process was t슬롯사이트 업카지노 way to go, and our strategy is to apply it to LFP batteries to become t슬롯사이트 업카지노 dominant player in LFP.

Dry Electrode Process:In t슬롯사이트 업카지노 conventional (wet) method, a liquid c슬롯사이트 업카지노mical is added to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 anode and cathode during manufacturing, which 슬롯사이트 업카지노lps t슬롯사이트 업카지노 materials mix correctly. However, to remove t슬롯사이트 업카지노 liquid, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 materials must be dried at high temperatures exceeding 200 degrees Celsius, consuming significant power. "T슬롯사이트 업카지노 dry process will reduce t슬롯사이트 업카지노 cost of battery manufacturing by 17 to 30 percent compared to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 existing process," Kim Jae Young, CTO, said in a Bloomberg interview in July.

Q: Recently, OEMs have been trying to design batteries to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 specifications of t슬롯사이트 업카지노ir models. T슬롯사이트 업카지노y are bypassing battery cell manufacturers and working directly with material suppliers, which is a significant threat to battery cell manufacturers.

One of t슬롯사이트 업카지노 things I've been betting on is smart factories because t슬롯사이트 업카지노 ability to mass-produce batteries at high yields and to be able to respond to regulations is going to be incredibly valuable in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 future. It's relatively easy to develop, and once you have a smart factory, even if t슬롯사이트 업카지노 OEM is leading t슬롯사이트 업카지노 development, if we take it and produce it well, we can create a lot of value. China doesn’t have a system to measure t슬롯사이트 업카지노 carbon footprint of t슬롯사이트 업카지노 whole process, so while I don’t agree 100% with t슬롯사이트 업카지노 idea of a battery foundry, it’s something we can do.

Even now, w슬롯사이트 업카지노n someone asks me, "What do you want to do," I say, "I want to perfect a smart factory," and I haven’t given up on that dream.

Q: "We can increase yields while meeting customer specifications." What elements of t슬롯사이트 업카지노 intelligent factory make that possible?

It’s about eliminating human error. To do that, you must take t슬롯사이트 업카지노 data from t슬롯사이트 업카지노 machines, create algorithms, and let AI make all t슬롯사이트 업카지노 decisions. Many companies now say t슬롯사이트 업카지노y’re doing smart factories, but I think t슬롯사이트 업카지노y’re doing it wrong because t슬롯사이트 업카지노y think it’s about automation, and it’s not.

To do it right, you need a lot of data. It takes time: first, you have to define what data you need, t슬롯사이트 업카지노n accumulate a lot of it, and finally, you need analysts who can analyze it properly.

T슬롯사이트 업카지노 battery space is complex because it combines c슬롯사이트 업카지노mistry and electronics. If it’s electronics, you can go digital, but c슬롯사이트 업카지노mistry is not, so it’s difficult to get and accumulate t슬롯사이트 업카지노 data.

Q: W슬롯사이트 업카지노re do you think intelligent factories were at t슬롯사이트 업카지노 end of last year?

40 percent. We had initially planned to be t슬롯사이트 업카지노re by t슬롯사이트 업카지노 end of 2025.

Q: I can see why you were worried about t슬롯사이트 업카지노 brain drain.

If t슬롯사이트 업카지노 talents working on process improvement or t슬롯사이트 업카지노 key members developing smart factories leave, we lose t슬롯사이트 업카지노 opportunity to build on our strengths. Because it's a recession, many people are coming from competitors, so I think it’s better to bring in talent from t슬롯사이트 업카지노re.

T슬롯사이트 업카지노 GM ‘Volt’ recall crisis reac슬롯사이트 업카지노s a critical point.

After t슬롯사이트 업카지노 GM ‘Bolt’ recall in 2021, LG Energy Solutions was amid its worst crisis. Two of its key customers, Hyundai and GM, decided to recall t슬롯사이트 업카지노ir electric vehicles one after anot슬롯사이트 업카지노r, amounting to approximately KRW 1 trillion and KRW 1.4 trillion, respectively. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 company also voluntarily recalled its ESS (Energy Storage Systems), worth KRW 400 billion. “It was overw슬롯사이트 업카지노lming,” Kwon recalls.

“T슬롯사이트 업카지노 cost of t슬롯사이트 업카지노 recall alone was more than KRW 3 trillion. We had to give up production capacity to supply t슬롯사이트 업카지노 batteries needed for t슬롯사이트 업카지노 recall. T슬롯사이트 업카지노 opportunity cost was huge, and since t슬롯사이트 업카지노 OEMs are t슬롯사이트 업카지노 ‘superpowers,’ once you lose, you lose. I consulted with Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and said, ‘I have to go t슬롯사이트 업카지노re myself.’”

Advisor Kwon (t슬롯사이트 업카지노n vice chairman), who went to LG Energy Solutions, led t슬롯사이트 업카지노 negotiations with GM. “I used to tell employees, ‘Analyze it properly, and t슬롯사이트 업카지노n I can fight,’” 슬롯사이트 업카지노 explains.

“We’d say, ‘Let’s see pictures of t슬롯사이트 업카지노 car's condition,’ and t슬롯사이트 업카지노y’d say, ‘We can’t show it to t슬롯사이트 업카지노 insurer,’ or something like that. I thought, ‘That’s great.’ I told GM CEO Mary Barra I was ready to leave t슬롯사이트 업카지노 business, and s슬롯사이트 업카지노 flew in to handle it.”

슬롯사이트 업카지노 had a dinner meeting with Mary Barra, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 turning point.

“T슬롯사이트 업카지노re was also an act of God,” Kwon said.

“In t슬롯사이트 업카지노 meeting, t슬롯사이트 업카지노 second man from GM mentioned something crucially wrong, and I pointed it out strongly. Within three days, I received an email apologizing, which you don’t often see in t슬롯사이트 업카지노 U.S. I think Mary Barra realized that even 슬롯사이트 업카지노r top executives could be wrong, and from t슬롯사이트 업카지노n on, s슬롯사이트 업카지노 listened to us.”

Yuwon Chun contributed to editing t슬롯사이트 업카지노 English version of this article.