April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] LG Chem said on Jan. 2 it will spend more than 1 trillion won (US$937 million) on research and development this year.

LG Chem Vice Chairman and CEO Park Jin-soo made the announcement in a speech for the New Year, though he did not give further details.

Park said last year that the company aims to boost its R&D spending to 1.4 trillion won by 2020.

LG Chem’s spending on R&D came to 780 billion won in 2016 and 1 trillion won in 2017.

LG Chem is a key supplier of batteries to global carmakers, such as Audi and Renault-Nissan, as well as other global companies.

It currently operates electric vehicle battery plants in China, the United States and Korea.

In 2016, LG Chem broke ground on an electric vehicle battery plant in Poland. The 400 billion-won plant, set to be completed by the end of 2018, will have an annual production capacity of more than 100,000 batteries.

Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)