As sluggish electric vehicle sales dragged on, Samsung SDI posted an operating loss of 1.7223 trillion won on a consolidation basis last year, swinging to a loss from a year earlier. Revenue for the same period fell 20% to 13.2667 trillion won.
Fourth-quarter revenue on a consolidation basis came to 3.8587 trillion won, up 16.6% from a year earlier, while the operating loss widened to 299.2 billion won.
Fourth-quarter battery revenue was 3.622 trillion won, up 1.6% from a year earlier. The operating loss was 338.5 billion won.
Batteries for energy storage systems (ESS) posted a record-high quarterly revenue, and the deficit narrowed from the previous quarter thanks to an increase in benefits from the U.S. advanced manufacturing production credit (AMPC) and compensation related to a decrease in electric vehicle battery volume. Fourth-quarter AMPC benefits totaled 79.8 billion won.
The electronic materials sector maintained a similar level, with revenue of 236.7 billion won and operating profit of 39.3 billion won.
Samsung SDI emphasized that it achieved large-scale orders last year. It won orders for 46-pi (46 mm diameter) cylindrical batteries using nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) chemistry from major automakers, and signed a supply contract for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic batteries for ESS.
It secured a large number of orders in the first central procurement market for domestic ESS. It launched a tabless ultra-high-power cylindrical battery and supplied it to global power tool clients.
The company said the ESS battery market this year is expected to see rising demand for grid-use and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), as well as battery backup units (BBU), as investment in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers spreads.
In small batteries, demand is expected to rebound, centered on professional power tools, as AI data center construction increases, and demand in new markets such as robots is also projected to grow. For the electronic materials sector, semiconductor materials are forecast to grow steadily.
A Samsung SDI official said, "We plan to improve profitability by increasing production of batteries for ESS and by mass-producing in the United States the 'SBB 2.0,' which uses prismatic LFP batteries," adding, "For electric vehicle batteries, we will improve results by securing new customers and will also increase orders for new products such as LFP and mid-nickel."