● On October 28, SKC signed a MOU on establishing a JV with a Chinese materials manufacturer. The JV will be _ create_d this year and production will begin next year.

● The specialty material will be provided to global and Chinese smartphone manufacturers; collaboration can be extended to processed films.

SKC’s CEO Lee Wan Jae has agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) with LY Tech in China, which supplies materials for wireless smartphone rechargeable devices to global smartphone makers. LY Tech is already supplying 60% to 70% of the materials for wireless rechargeable devices used by global smartphone manufacturers. This brightens the future prospects of the joint venture company's wireless charging materials business.

With the wireless charging material that was developed using SKC’s magnetic material know-how, the company sets sights on the global / Chinese market.

On September 28, SKC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the joint venture with LY Tech in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province, China. Under the MOU, the two companies agreed to quickly strengthen their partnership.

Oh Jun-rok, New Biz. division Vice President (left), and Cathy Jung, CEO of LY Tech (right), shake hands after signing the MOU at LY Tech in Dongtai, China on October 28.

SKC will provide material technology and production facilities to the joint venture. SKC has been active in the wireless charging materials business for many years _ base_d on its know-how in magnetic materials which it accumulated through its years in the videotape manufacturing business.

Alongside getting supplies of materials for wireless charging devices from the joint venture, LY Tech will likewise be responsible for customer marketing. The company has experience in supplying materials for wireless charging devices to smartphone makers in China and abroad.

Materials for wireless charging devices to be produced by the joint venture can enhance the wireless charging efficiency of smartphones and block/absorb electromagnetic waves. The demand for this material is on a sharp rise as more smartphone makers have been adopting the wireless charging method lately. In particular, when wireless charging technology is applied to drones, robots, and automobiles, the market is predicted to grow even faster.

Preparations for production will be completed in the 1st half of 2019. Revenues from sales are expected to materialize in 2020.

The two companies agreed to establish a joint venture and then set up a joint venture production facility by the first half of next year after quickly completing negotiations in 2018. The joint venture’s commercial production and sales will kick off in the second half of next year after receiving approval from its corporate customers. In 2020, the joint venture will expand its customer _ base_ and supply.

"LY Tech is an industry recognized vendor. Last year, more than 60% of its sales of 3.5 trillion won came from global smartphone manufacturing companies," said Oh Jun-rok, New Biz. division Vice President (and current CEO of SKC Solmics). Our partnership gets its start from wireless charging materials for smartphones. But we can expand our partnership to other areas such as manufacturing films, given that industrial process films are widely used in LY Tech.” [The End]

De_ script_ion: Oh Joon-rok, Director of SKC Growth Business Promotion Division (front row, 5th from left), and Cathy Jung, CEO of LY Tech (front row, 4th from left), pose for a photo after signing the MOU at LY Tech in Dongtai, China on October 28.