EcoPro (086520.KS) pledged to strengthen the competitiveness of its ternary battery materials and respond to rising battery demand from future industries such as robotics and artificial intelligence, as the company marked its 28th anniversary.
"The opportunity for ternary batteries will certainly open up in a big way," founder Lee Dong-chae said on Oct. 22 at an anniversary ceremony held at the company's Pohang campus. "Demand for batteries with higher energy density will keep growing, not only for electric vehicles but also for robotics, AI and next-generation mobility industries." He urged employees to "further advance our unrivaled technology, raise quality competitiveness even higher and lower costs further, so that we can prepare in advance for the future our customers want."
EcoPro started in 1998 in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, with one employee and 100 million won in capital. It localized production of chemical filters for semiconductor processes that had been imported, and developed catalyst technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, building a foundation in the environmental business. In the early 2000s, it entered the secondary battery cathode materials business, and in 2013 it expanded overseas by supplying NCA (nickel, cobalt and aluminum) cathode materials to Sony.
The company then focused on expanding production capacity and building a materials supply chain. From 2017 to the present, it has invested about 3.3 trillion won ($2.3 billion) to build a "Closed Loop" ecosystem in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province — a resource-circulating production system spanning precursors, cathode materials and recycling.
EcoPro has also worked to hire local talent and expand production bases outside the capital area. After starting its business in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, it built a large-scale cathode materials production base in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Nine out of every 10 of its employees come from outside Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area.