Tae-hyung Kim, Gounee Yang

Global Economic News

LG Energy Solution and China’s CATL have signed an investment agreement with the Indonesian Government to establish a battery value chain in Indonesia. As a result, the top two global battery makers will enter the Indonesian market.

According to SNE Research, LG Energy Solution is the second-largest company in the global battery market. CATL ranked first with the largest market share.

According to an industry report Tuesday, LG Energy Solution formed the “LG Consortium” with LG Chem, POSCO Holdings, LX International, and HuaYu and signed a non-binding investment agreement with the Indonesian state-run nickel supplier Antam. The deal is reportedly valued at about US$9 billion.

LG Consortium aims to secure raw materials stability through the project.

On the same day, China’s CATL also signed an investment agreement with Antam and IBC to establish a value chain encompassing a wide range of items from nickel mining to supplying battery materials. The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2026, and the expected annual energy production capacity is 10GWh.

Indonesia is the largest exporter of nickel, the core material for batteries. Due to the recent global supply chain woes, Indonesia has emerged as a stable nickel supplier.

In addition to nickel, Indonesia also has other minerals and raw materials critical for electric vehicle manufacturing such as cobalt and bauxite.