SK Nexilis to supply copper foil to Northvolt in a $1B deal

SK Nexilis Co. is set to supply its copper foil to Northvolt AB, a Swedish battery developer and manufacturer specializing in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles. They signed a deal for a 5-year contract worth $1 billion or KRW1.4 trillion.

With SK Nexilis’ contract with Northvolt, it will start the supply in 2024. The copper foil that will be delivered to the latter will be enough to make batteries for 1.7 million electric vehicles.

The South Korean copper foil maker is currently the largest in the world, and with its expertise and capacity to supply large orders, it is expecting to sign another deal soon. The company is a unit under SKC Ltd., the chemical materials arm of the SK Group.

As per The Korea Economic Daily, it was specified in the contract that SK Nexilis would continuously supply the said EV battery material to Northvolt in the span of five years. The volume of the copper foil will be around 80% of the company’s foil requirements in this period.

The companies said the deal between them will ensure that Northvolt will have a stable supply of the copper foil for its productions. SK Nexilis said that it would produce the material in its plant located in Stalowa Wola, Poland, and operations in this facility are starting next year. This factory has a production capacity of 50,000 tons per year.

The copper foil maker still has plans to expand its production capacity around the world. In fact, it is currently building a copper foil factory in Malaysia and completion is already expected soon. It will also break ground for two more factories in North America by the end of 2023.

“With this mid to long-term deal, we expect to enhance both companies’ competitiveness in the global EV market,” The Korea Herald quoted an official at SK Nexilis as saying in a statement. “We are currently in talks with global top-tier battery customers about additional contracts and plan to announce the outcome soon.”