NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The recently listed LG Energy Solution and America's largest carmaker General Motors made an official announcement today that they will build the third plant of Ultium Cells, a joint electric vehicle battery venture. The two companies plan to invest 2.6 billion dollars in this construction project which will start this year and end by the latter half of 2024. The new factory aims to start the first phase of mass production in early 2025 and increase the annual output capacity to fifty gigawatt hours. The first two Ultium Cells plants are being built respectively in Ohio and Tennessee.
High raw materials costs and disruptions in supply networks appear to be exacerbating the corporate environment this year. The Federation of Korean Industries reported today that, according to a Business Survey Index survey conducted on 600 enterprises, the February business outlook recorded 99.7, up 3.2 points from January but failing to reach 100 for the second straight month. The FKI believes that the business outlook fell below the baseline for two consecutive months due to China's slow growth, supply disruptions, and high international costs of raw materials.