LG swaps Chinese cells for costlier Korean ones in Korea's biggest battery tender
Korea's third ESS tender scores price at 50 of 100 points and pays 25 for domestic content, and bids close 11 November. LG Energy Solution, which took 14 percent of round two with Chinese-made cells, now bids an all-Korean cell into that squeeze.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
LG swaps Nanjing cells for Ochang, and pays for it
In round two of Korea's state storage procurement, LG Energy Solution offered LFP cells made in Nanjing, China, and came away with 14 percent of the volume 1. For round three it will build every cell at Ochang, and for the first time all four core materials, cathode, anode, separator and electrolyte, will come from Korean suppliers 1.
The biggest tender yet closes 11 November
Bids and evidence close 11 November on 1,180 megawatts of six-hour storage: more than 7 gigawatt-hours by one count, 6.6 by another, worth roughly 2 trillion won ($1.47 billion) and bigger than the first two rounds combined, with awards in November and operation required by February 2029 12.
The scorecard pays for cheapness and Korean content at once
Price carries 50 of the 100 points 12. Fire and equipment safety take 25, and the last 25 rewards domestic manufacturing, supply-chain localization and jobs; bidders must declare the maker and origin of every cell, cathode and electrolyte 12. Imported cells concede those 25 points. Korean ones cost more against the 50 that score price.
Half the score buys cheap; a quarter buys Korean
Data
| Part | Points | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 50 | 50% |
| Fire and equipment safety | 25 | 25% |
| Domestic content, supply chain, jobs | 25 | 25% |
SK On already owns the cathode chain
SK On took 284 of round two's 565 megawatts, 50.3 percent, selling Korean-made LFP, and has since locked the cathode chain with about 160 billion won at L&F and 1.07 trillion won at Posco Future M, plus 9 gigawatt-hours of Georgia-made cells for NeoVolta Power from 2027 13. Whoever takes the megawatts, the materials makers get paid.
LG bids for round three from a 14 percent share of round two
Data
| Share of round-two award | |
|---|---|
| SK On | 50.3% |
| Samsung SDI | 35.7% |
| LG Energy Solution | 14% |
The export case is real, the proof is not in yet
LG booked more than 3 trillion won of ESS orders in the first half, including AI data center projects, and targets 50 gigawatt-hours of North American LFP capacity by end-2026 45. Its storage system is the only Korean badge on Nvidia's first DSX Ready list 45. Project Star, a $22.3 billion, 6.47-gigawatt gas campus in Encinal, Texas feeding a 5-gigawatt data center site, is the demand that case chases 467. No Korean battery maker is confirmed in it yet 4.
Samsung SDI, which took about 76 percent of round one, has not even picked its chemistry 1. Korean LFP cathode is barely in production: L&F starts mass output at end-September, Posco Future M by year-end 1. The US industry's 1-terawatt-hour-by-2032 goal is a target, not an order book 4.
The award lands in November 12. LG needs volume back, on inputs costlier than Nanjing's. SK On needs Seosan's converted lines to pilot by year-end and deliver from the first half of 2027 1. The cathode suppliers get paid either way.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
