Samsung SDI posted an operating loss of 591.3 billion won in the third quarter of this year. The battery institutional sector was sluggish due to the impact of the electric vehicle chasm (temporary demand slowdown).
Samsung SDI disclosed on the 28th that third-quarter sales fell 22.5% from a year earlier to 3.0518 trillion won, and it recorded an operating loss of 591.3 billion won. While it booked losses for four consecutive quarters since the fourth quarter of last year, net income returned to a profit of 5.7 billion won due to gains and losses from the transfer of the polarizing film business.
Sales in the battery institutional sector fell 23.2% from a year earlier to 2.82 trillion won, and the operating loss came to 630.1 billion won. The deficit widened from the previous quarter due to slower sales of electric-vehicle batteries and the impact of U.S. tariff policy on batteries for energy storage systems (ESS). Sales in the electronic materials institutional sector were 231.8 billion won, down 12.1% from a year earlier, and operating profit was 38.8 billion won.
Samsung SDI projected that results will improve in the fourth quarter, helped by growth in the European electric-vehicle market and the U.S. ESS market. In the ESS battery institutional sector, it began operating an NCA-based ESS battery line this month at StarPlus Energy (SPE), a joint venture in the United States with Stellantis, ramping up local mass production.
It is preparing to convert a line to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries with the goal of starting up in the fourth quarter of next year, and plans to expand annual U.S. ESS battery capacity to around 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by the end of next year. In the electric-vehicle battery institutional sector, it will enhance competitiveness in the premium EV market with high-nickel cylindrical 46-mm and prismatic batteries, while also actively pursuing orders for mass-market EVs such as LFP and mid-nickel batteries.