Gu Ja-eun, chairman of LS Group, is accelerating ambidextrous management. Ambidextrous management is a strategy that strengthens the group's core power infrastructure and energy solution business while developing new businesses such as batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors to cultivate future growth drivers.
Earlier this year, the holding company LS Corporation directly oversaw the pre-initial public offering (IPO) of Essex Solutions, the world's largest winding market player. Essex Solutions raised 295 billion won and was valued at 1.47 trillion won. Essex Solutions plans to pursue an IPO within this year.
Major affiliate LS Cable & System is enhancing its technology for submarine cables, superconducting cables, and ultra-high voltage cables in line with the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) industry. LS Cable & System plans to invest about 1 trillion won to build a submarine cable factory with a gross floor area of 70,000 square meters (approximately 21,000 pyeong) on a 396,700 square meter site in Chesapeake, Virginia. It will also feature the world's tallest 200-meter power cable production tower.
LS Cable & System's subsidiary LS Eco Energy is expanding its overseas operations in line with the global power grid expansion movement. LS Eco Energy's Vietnamese production subsidiary, LS-VINA, is the only producer of ultra-high voltage cables in Vietnam and currently holds an 80% market share. It is also expanding its supply of high-value-added ultra-high voltage cables to Europe, including Denmark.
Smart energy solution company LS ELECTRIC surpassed 50% in overseas sales last year and set a goal of 70% for overseas sales by 2030. This follows increased demand for power equipment due to local companies' investments in production facilities in North America. LS ELECTRIC plans to raise its production capacity for power infrastructure, including ultra-high voltage transformers, to over 700 billion won by September of this year.
LS ELECTRIC's affiliate LS Power Solution, formerly KOC Electric, expanded its ultra-high voltage transformer production facilities at its Ulsan plant last December, increasing annual production capacity from 30 billion won to over 100 billion won. It also expanded its production items from existing 154 kilovolt (kV) transformers to 230 kV ultra-high voltage transformers.
Non-ferrous metal materials company LS MnM is undergoing digital transformation through the Onsan Digital Smelter (ODS) project, which introduces a smart factory at the Onsan smeltery. Since last year, it has also been pursuing a battery materials business as a new venture. LS MnM plans to establish an industrial value chain from nickel sulfate to precursors to cathode materials using purely domestic technology in collaboration with LS-L&F Battery Solution.
LS Mtron commercialized autonomous tractors for the first time in South Korea in 2021. It recently unveiled its flagship model MT9 and the electric tractor concept model EON3, intensifying its efforts to penetrate the large tractor and electric tractor markets.
Eco-friendly energy company E1 is actively expanding into new businesses, including hydrogen, renewable energy, and electric vehicle charging.