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| LG Chem's Cheongju anode plant under construction in North Chungcheong Province. Courtesy of LG Chem |
By Kim Hyun-bin
LG Chem is in the midst of a large-scale recruitment drive at its advanced materials and electric battery materials businesses to meet demand in the fast-growing market.
According to the company, the advanced materials division aims to hire both new recruits and experienced workers in the battery materials field.
This is the largest recruitment drive since the division was established in 2019. Through the new hires, LG Chem is aiming to diversify its businesses including anodes, separation membranes, battery materials, and engineering and OLED materials.
The company plans to hire over a hundred workers in its battery materials business alone. Prospective applicants need to submit their resume by May 11 ― those who are successful will go through a two-stage interview process and take an aptitude test. New hires are scheduled to start work in July.
Through the new recruits, LG Chem plans to strengthen its future competitiveness in the EV battery materials market.
"This year, we are focusing on fostering our EV battery materials business and have come close to 5 trillion won in sales in the advanced materials division," LG Chem said during a conference call after releasing its first quarter earnings report last week. "We plan to double our sales within the next five years. We also plan to expand our eco-friendly product materials line to better meet the environmentally-friendly trend, which includes IT materials that go into TVs, mobile phones and OLEDs ,as well as next-generation semiconductor materials and engineering plastic."
LG Chem has been increasing its EV battery materials production capacity by building additional factories. Since late last year, the company has been constructing an anode production factory in Cheongju capable of producing 30,000 tons annually and plans to build a 60,000 ton capacity plant in Gumi this year. LG Chem's anode production volume stood at around 40,000 tons last year, but we aim to increase this almost seven fold to 260,000 tons by 2026."
Starting this year, the company has been expanding several departments within the advanced materials division related to EV battery materials, including battery assembly parts, cathode binders and anode dispersants.
These are key to increasing the driving range of EVs, super charging, and battery life span.
"Through the recruitment of new talent, we plan to enhance and successfully lead in the advanced materials business, which will become a growth driver in the battery materials sector, and further enhance our competitiveness," an LG Chem official said.
