LS C&S beefs up its new business with LS materials

LS Cable & System is hastening its efforts to beef up its new business with LS Materials, one of its affiliates. The South Korea-based industrial corporation with global operations and one of the biggest cable manufacturers worldwide revealed its plans this week. LS Cable & System’s LS Materials unit is a firm that specializes in ultracapacitors that started research and development (R&D) at LS C&S in 2002. As mentioned in The Korea Times, an ultracapacitor is a special industrial battery that offers several advantages, including a long life span and fast charging.

Mostly, this type of battery is used for wind power generators, electric vehicles, automated guided vehicles, uninterruptible power supplies, and factory automation. The company is said to be growing as it saw an average annual sales of more than 30%, which was attributed to the exports of ultracapacitors to the United States for wind turbines.

With the growth, LS C&S decided to raise its investment in this ultracapacitor business since it believes this market will grow to trillions of won once the batteries are made a permanent fixture as EV parts that can supply emergency power and assistance devices.

Moreover, the batteries used for wind power generators are required to be replaced every two to three years but if operators install ultracapacitors instead, there will be no need for replacements every few years because this can provide uninterrupted power for more than 15 years.

"The ultracapacitor market is growing at a rapid pace due to the expansion of the special battery potential utility in the field of electric vehicle and wind power industries,” an official of LS C&S said in a statement. “Ultracapacitors have a wide range of applications as they can compensate for shortcomings of existing secondary batteries."

Meanwhile, LS Cable & System is also boosting its other units, and in fact, it was reported just last week that it has shored up its undersea cable business by acquiring a 16% stake in KT Submarine. The deal will help both LS C&S and KT Submarine in securing a competitive edge in the global renewable energy market.