(March 5): South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co said it is weighing the idea of another manufacturing plant in the US, signalling optimism about the market’s growth despite US President Donald Trump rolling back subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs).

The company, which supplies battery to General Motors Co (GM) and Stellantis NV, is studying building a plant on its own in North America, chief executive officer Joo Sun Choi told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday. It already has plans to build plants in collaboration with GM and Stellantis in Indiana, and has already completed another facility with Stellantis.

“We are very conservative on building a new plant in North America, because demand has weakened significantly this year compared to last year,” Choi said. “But we are vigorously reviewing the plan because we need mid- to long-term growth.”

That shows that component suppliers for plug-in vehicles believe the market will rebound on the back of a global push for emissions reduction despite near-term pain from Trump’s anti-EV rhetoric. South Korean battery makers, including LG Energy Solution Ltd and SK On, have pledged at least US$54 billion (RM239.13 billion) in combined investments for battery manufacturing facilities in the US, lured by tax credits under the previous Biden administration’s green-energy bill.

Boosting manufacturing in the US could also help assuage Trump, who singled out South Korea for levying more tariffs against American products than China.

“We see the US policy as a move to increase domestic manufacturing, and we already have many plants in the US,” LG Energy CEO Kim Dong-Myung said at a media briefing on Wednesday, citing the company’s investments as an “advantage”.

LG Energy, South Korea’s largest battery maker, sees the EV industry hitting the bottom in the first half this year.  

Raw-material suppliers to battery makers echoed the view. Cathode maker Posco Future M Co’s CEO Eom Gi-chen forecast the industry will probably rebound in two years. Despite weaker demand for EVs, the company increased its production target for this year, as automakers are calling for made-in-South Korea raw materials for cells, Eom said. 

The industry is moving toward the so-called “free from China” approach, he said, referring to the push reducing reliance on Chinese supply chains.

Yi Kang-myung, the chairman of SungEel HiTech Co, a major battery recycler in South Korea, also said he expects to start the operation of new plant in Indiana in March. Construction of a second plant in Georgia has yet to be decided, he said.

“We expect more details” of Trump’s EV policy around April, Yi said. “We will decide whether to start the construction of the second plant or not” after that.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee