Invest KOREA

Held an online briefing session with NAATBatt on strategies to invest in US secondary battery market

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Ahn Duk-geun) and KOTRA (President Yu Jeong-yeol) held online briefing on the 2024 Secondary Battery U.S. Investment Strategy on February 23 to support the entry of Korean companies to the U.S. secondary battery market.

The event was prepared to support Korean companies considering investment against the backdrop of rapidly growing U.S. secondary battery market. The event's program was made together with the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries (NAATBatt) to help Korean companies understand issues to be considered in the actual investment process.

Industrial, legal, and real estate experts from the NAATBatt, K&L Gates, JLL, and the Nomura Research Institute (NRI) joined as speakers. The briefing provided packages of information that Korean companies need to know when entering the US market, covering △ industry status △ incentives △ regulations △ labor △ taxation △ site selection, and △ entry strategy.

The first session explained the overall industrial trends in the secondary battery market by the US NAATBatt. K&L Gates introduced tax breaks and subsidies for the US battery industry. In particular, it elaborated detailed guidelines of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and foreign entities of concern (FEOC), major concerns for Korean companies. JLL mentioned factors to consider when selecting business sites in the US, stressing that the larger the projects the more important the suitability, labor, logistics, and electric power conditions become.

President Brian Engle of NAATBatt said "international cooperation across the supply chain is crucial in creating a robust and sustainable battery industry," adding that "The collaboration between NAATBatt and Korean companies will accelerate research and development of the battery industry, helping both US and Korean companies."

Park Sung-ho, head of KOTRA's North American headquarters, said, "We will closely monitor the U.S. secondary battery industry and policy trends to help Korean companies minimize trial and error when investing in the US."



Source: Invest KOREA (Feb. 26, 2024)