The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Ryu Seok-hyun) forecasted that the secondary battery manufacturing equipment market would reach 50 trillion won by 2030, and highlighted the dry electrode process and all-solid-state batteries as next-generation technologies.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials recently published a report titled ‘Trends in Secondary Battery Manufacturing Equipment and Outlook for Next-Generation Secondary Battery Equipment.’

Secondary batteries are becoming an essential power source in various industries, including mobile devices, electric vehicles, robots, and energy storage systems (ESS).

In particular, demand for secondary batteries is steadily increasing as efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and the spread of electric vehicles are intertwined.

Accordingly, the equipment industry essential to manufacturing secondary batteries is also growing rapidly, and the three domestic battery companies, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, are leading the way.

The global secondary battery manufacturing equipment market is expected to grow from KRW 14.5 trillion in 2022 to KRW 17 trillion in 2023, and to approximately KRW 50 trillion in 2030.

With an average annual growth rate of 14% expected, South Korea, China, and Japan are leading the market, accounting for more than 90% of the market.

In particular, China's market share is rapidly increasing, and Japan's ‘ Through the 'Economic Security Promotion Act', battery materials, parts, and equipment have been designated as national strategic industries and are continuing to provide full support.

In order to respond to this global trend, the analysis is that South Korea also needs more active policy efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of the secondary battery industry.

In this report, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials cited the dry electrode process and all-solid-state battery technology as the core of next-generation secondary battery manufacturing technology.

The dry electrode process is an innovative technology that can simplify the manufacturing process and reduce energy consumption, and can also be applied to the manufacturing of all-solid-state batteries.

Samsung SDI has succeeded in producing prototypes of all-solid-state batteries, and related equipment companies are accelerating the development of core equipment for manufacturing all-solid-state batteries.

Gil Hyeong-bae, a senior researcher at the Machine Policy Center of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, emphasized, “In order to secure global leadership in the secondary battery manufacturing equipment industry, the development of core technologies such as dry electrode processes and all-solid-state batteries is essential,” adding, “Policy support, R&D investment, and efforts to stabilize the supply chain are necessary to support this.”

Meanwhile, 'Machine Technology Policy' is a specialized journal that presents major trends and policy directions in the machinery industry, and is published more than four times a year. This report can be downloaded and subscribed to on the website of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials.