News Briefing

toktok newsletter will keep you up-to-date with the latest news on SK and member companies.

 

 


 

Chairman Chey Tae-won met with CEOs of American green energy companies that are leading the hydrogen energy and grid solution sectors to discuss ways for collaboration. Chairman Chey Tae-won had a meeting with CEO of Plug Power Andrew J. Marsh to reach an agreement to work together towards building a hydrogen ecosystem through various hydrogen-related technologies. The collaboration efforts discussed by the two CEOs came to fruition when SK E&S and Plug Power signed a shareholder agreement to launch a joint venture to carry out a hydrogen business in Asia. On the same morning prior to the meeting with Plug Power, Chairman Chey Tae-won also met with CEO Jeff Bishop of Key Capture Energy (KCE), a U.S. gird solution company that SK E&S acquired a 95% stake of last month, to discuss ways for collaboration in the energy solution market. SK Group plans to evolve KCE into the top player in the U.S. and a global top-tier company by 2025 by leveraging on KCE’s expertise in grid solutions in addition to SK’s battery and software capabilities, making additional investments for growth, and upgrading the business model.

 

 

 

 

SK E&S entered into a shareholder agreement with Plug Power to launch a joint venture aiming to operate a hydrogen business in Asia. SK E&S and Plug Power will respectively own a 51% and 49% stake of the joint venture. The joint venture will build a “giga factory” and a R&D center in the Seoul metropolitan area by 2024 to manufacture, on a mass scale, core equipment for hydrogen business, including electrolysers and hydrogen fuel cells. The electrolysers and fuel cells will be provided to the Korean and Asian markets at drastically reduced unit prices. Plug Power boasts an overwhelming market share of 95% in the hydrogen-fueled forklift sector in the U.S., and based on such proven technological prowess, the joint venture plans to make a foray not only into the Korean market but also into Asian fuel cell markets. The joint venture aims to leverage on Plug Power’s electrolysis technology (PEM), which is best suited to address the intermittency of renewable energy, to produce electrolysers in Korea and commercialize green hydrogen by utilizing the electrolysers. The joint venture will also distribute the liquefied hydrogen that SK E&S produces to more than 100 charging stations nationwide.

 

 

 

 

SK Inc. is accelerating its efforts to establish its presence in the global alternative food market. Having entered the alternative food market by investing approximately KRW 54 billion in Perfect Day last year, SK Inc. has recently made an additional investment in Perfect Day with STIC Investment and acquired a seat on Perfect Day’s board of directors in a move to continuously strengthen its strategic partnership. At the same time, SK Inc. also signed an MOU with SPC Samlip, a Korean confectionary and food distribution company, to explore various opportunities to invest in alternative food businesses. Under the new MOU, SK Inc. will explore investment opportunities in leading global players in the alternative food industry and lead the introduction of industry technologies to Korea while SPC Samlip will review the business cases for those potential investment opportunities based on production, distribution, and R&D infrastructure to make joint investments with SK Inc. As part of the first collaboration effort, SK Inc. and SPC Samlip are reviewing the introduction of technologies of Perfect Day and the U.K.-based alternative meat provider Meatless Farm—which SK Inc. invested in—and launch of an alternative food business.

 

 

 

 

SK innovation’s battery and E&P business arms that were split off into new corporations were officially launched on October 1. The battery and E&P business arms respectively were named “SK on” and “SK earthon.” SK innovation wholly owns both of the newly launched businesses as its subsidiaries. CEO Kim Jun of SK innovation emphasized that the move “completes the structural reform of the business portfolio that the company has been strongly pushing for and will mark the beginning of next 60 years where execution of the company’s financial story will be accelerated to create corporate value.” With this split-off, SK on aims to make a great leap forward to become a global leader by 2030. Meanwhile, SK earthon plans to continue to build an eco-friendly, green business portfolio with an aim to reduce and minimize carbon emissions.