SK Innovation reveals pull out in the U.S. as one of its options following USITC ruling

SK Innovation recently aired what it thinks about the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ruling against the company. It received a harsh punishment of a 10-year ban in America, and SKI is calling this decision “catastrophic” because it can also harm the public.

SKI’s reveals its options due to the penalty

As per The Korea Herald, SK Innovation has been looking at all options that it could take in response to a decade of business prohibition in the U.S. While it filed a motion in an attempt to overturn the February decision of the USITC, the South Korean company is also considering pulling out its business in the country.

This means that it is also considering abandoning its plans for its manufacturing facilities in Georgia. The $2.7 billion factory is already being built, and the recent development in its dispute with LG Chem halted the project. Since SK will not be allowed to import, make and sell in the U.S. for a decade after the ban takes effect, then the factory could not be used even if it will be completed.

Thus, SKI may be left with no choice but to drop the Georgia plant. If it has other options to continue the business, it was not revealed. Then again, to prevent this scenario that also means the loss of income for Georgia and jobs for the locals, the S. Korean company is trying to appeal its case and already asked for President Joe Biden’s help by interfering with the situation and reversing USITC’s decision.

SKI’s alleged offense against LG Chem

SK Innovation has been placed in this predicament after LG Energy, owned by LG Chem, alleged that SK stole at least 22 trade secrets from them. These are battery patents and other technologies that were supposedly used by SKI to produce their own products, including electric vehicle batteries. The trade commission in the U.S. confirmed that SK is guilty of stealing LG’s patents in February.

“The commission’s orders destroy the economic viability of SK’s investment in battery production in Georgia and will rationally and inevitably lead to its abandonment, and will also cause the loss of the thousands of domestic jobs and environmental benefits that the project would have brought,” SK stated regarding the ruling.

Meanwhile, one of the facilities for making EV batteries was already completed in Georgia, and the second building is under construction, it is expected to finish in 2023, but its fate may depend on the outcome of SK Innovation’s efforts to reverse ITC’s ruling.