LG Energy Solution Ltd

Smackover Lithium has amended its binding commercial offtake agreement with Trafigura Trading LLC for the South West Arkansas Project, adding an option to deliver up to an additional 4,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year on top of the initial 8,000 metric tonne per year commitment. Combined, the maximum possible volumes to be delivered to Trafigura on a take-or-pay basis has increased to 12,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year over the 10-year Agreement beginning at the start of commercial production, with pricing and other key commercial terms remaining confidential. Because the additional volume is deliverable solely at Smackover Lithium's election, the partnership retains the ability to allocate that volume to other strategic customers in the future, and an additional offtake agreement is not required to move forward with Project financing. Together with the recently announced binding take-or-pay agreement with LG Energy Solution for 8,000 metric tonnes per year, total possible commitments have now reached 20,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, exceeding the Project's initial target of securing customer offtake for roughly 80%, or 18,000, of the 22,500 tonnes of annual nameplate lithium carbonate capacity in its initial phase. Smackover Lithium, a partnership between Standard Lithium and Equinor formed in May 2024 in which Standard Lithium holds a 55% interest and Equinor holds 45%, said due diligence is well underway with three major Export Credit Agencies on a senior secured, limited recourse debt financing package of around $1.1 billion, and it continues to target a Final Investment Decision later this year before moving into construction, enabling first commercial production of battery-quality lithium carbonate in 2029.

LG Energy Solution announced that its Battery Energy Storage System has qualified as NVIDIA DSX Ready BESS, making it part of NVIDIA's first-ever DSX Ready program. The qualification confirms the AC-coupled energy storage solution meets applicable NVIDIA DSX reference design requirements for AI factories, helping customers bring capacity online faster while addressing AI load smoothing, voltage ride-through, and power reliability. The product is built on modular 2.5 MW / 5.1 MWh battery blocks that allow scalable deployments and rapid capacity expansion, with an integrated AC architecture designed to meet applicable UL and NFPA requirements. Backed by a fully localized North American value chain spanning cell manufacturing, pack production, and system integration, LG Energy Solution plans to secure more than 50 GWh of LFP battery cell production capacity by the end of 2026 through its network of five regional production facilities. Chang Beom Kang, Head of ESS Battery Division at LG Energy Solution, said being selected as a partner for NVIDIA's first-ever DSX Ready program validates the strength and competitiveness of the company's BESS products.

LG Energy Solution and Seoul National University have secured a key technology to improve the stability of next-generation lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries, paving the way for their use in large-format electric vehicle cells. The joint research team, led by Professor Jongwoo Lim, identified factors causing gas evolution and capacity degradation, and developed optimal operating conditions that suppress gas generation. By lowering the upper charging voltage from 4.6 V to 4.3 V, oxygen reduction increased from 86 percent to 97 percent, and lowering the discharge cutoff voltage to 2.0 V enabled near-complete oxygen recovery. Applied to 40 Ah-class cells, the technology retained 92.2 percent of initial energy after 883 cycles, demonstrating feasibility for commercial large-format applications. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

LG Energy Solution has entered into a binding offtake agreement with Smackover Lithium for 8,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate annually over the next ten years. Smackover, a joint venture between Standard Lithium, which holds a 55% stake, and Equinor, holding 45%, will supply the material from its South West Arkansas Project in the US. The lithium carbonate will be produced using direct lithium extraction and purification, a more sustainable method. This deal enables LG Energy Solution to build a fully integrated local supply chain for its US battery plants, most of which focus on lithium iron phosphate chemistry. The agreement also helps LG Energy Solution meet non-Prohibited Foreign Entity requirements for cathode materials.

South Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution is shifting its focus from electric vehicle batteries to energy storage batteries. Robert Lee, president of the company's North America division, announced that five of its eight plants in North America will be producing batteries for energy storage systems by the end of this year. Demand for large-scale batteries for power storage is surging amid a construction boom for artificial intelligence data centers, and Lee said this is a growth area he had not anticipated. The plant in Lansing, Michigan, produces batteries for utilities and also plans to manufacture batteries for Tesla.

LG Energy Solution has started production at its new battery manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, as the South Korean company expands its North American supply base for both energy storage systems and electric vehicles. The 226-acre plant is designed to reach more than 35 gigawatt-hours of annual battery production capacity at full scale, with the company investing more than $2 billion in the facility since 2022 and expecting employment to rise from about 900 workers currently to 1,700 at full production. The Lansing plant will manufacture lithium iron phosphate cells for energy storage applications as well as higher-energy-density nickel-manganese-cobalt cells for electric vehicles, with the LFP cells integrated into utility-scale and commercial storage systems by LG Energy Solution Vertech and Michigan utility DTE Energy among the customers. On the automotive side, Lansing will manufacture NMC cells for Toyota, including batteries intended for vehicles such as the 2027 Toyota Highlander EV, under a long-term U.S. battery supply agreement covering about 20 gigawatt-hours annually. The facility was originally developed as an Ultium Cells joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors, but GM agreed in 2024 to sell its interest in the nearly completed plant to its Korean partner, and LG Energy Solution now operates two manufacturing facilities in Michigan with more than $5 billion invested in the state since 2010.

Ultium Cells, the General Motors and LG Energy Solution joint venture, restarted battery production at its Warren, Ohio plant after a seven month shutdown linked to changes in US BEV market conditions and policy. The Warren facility return to operations marks a fresh step in rebuilding GM's domestic EV battery supply chain following the extended pause. The restart follows earlier adjustments to GM's electric vehicle rollout plans in response to evolving US demand for battery electric vehicles. General Motors, a US auto company with a market capitalization of about $75.8b, designs and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and parts worldwide. The Ultium Cells restart feeds directly into its effort to secure battery capacity for its broader vehicle lineup.

In the first half of this year, overseas markets became the largest destination for global energy storage cells for the first time, with their share exceeding 50% for the first time in the same period in history. InfoLink Consulting data shows that global energy storage cell shipments totaled 467.84 GWh in the first half, up 94.76% year on year, of which overseas market shipments were 248.73 GWh, accounting for 53.2% of the global total. SNE Research statistics show that energy storage cell shipments in North America and Europe grew 83% and 74% year on year respectively, with market shares of 16.5% and 15.8%, while large projects in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Australia accelerated into the execution phase. China's market share fell to 43.9% from 50.5% in the same period last year, with shipments of 202.5 GWh, up 49% year on year, still the world's largest single market. The top ten companies in global energy storage cell shipments are all Chinese companies, with CATL firmly in first place with 125 GWh of shipments and a 27.1% market share, followed by Hithium and EVE Energy in second and third. Although LG Energy Solution ranked only eleventh, its first-half shipments surged 357% year on year to 12 GWh, rapidly approaching the top ten. ICCSINO predicts that global energy storage cell shipments for the full year 2026 could reach 1,200 GWh.

Lopal Technology has signed a continuing connected transaction agreement with LG Energy Solution, Ltd. Since LG Energy Solution holds a 20% stake in the company's third-tier subsidiary, Lopal Indonesia, it is regarded as a connected person under the Hong Kong Listing Rules. To regulate transactions between the two parties, the company has entered into separate continuing connected transaction agreements with LG Energy Solution for procurement and sales, and has set annual caps for the transaction amounts from 2026 to 2028. These transactions do not constitute connected transactions under the rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Huizhou EVE Energy Co., Ltd. issued a statement on July 24, 2026, saying that LG Energy Solution, Ltd. and its subsidiary LG Energy Solution Arizona, Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the company in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on July 21, 2026 local time, and concurrently initiated a 337 investigation with the US International Trade Commission. The company stated that after technical tracing and patent comparison analysis, it believes it has not infringed the other party's involved patent rights, and will assemble a professional legal team to actively respond to the lawsuit. As of the announcement date, the company has not yet received formal legal documents. EVE Energy emphasized that it always adheres to independent technological innovation, holding over 17,000 global patent applications in total, including more than 3,000 independent innovation patent applications in the cylindrical battery field.