Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com news on December 18, according to Yonhap news agency, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with BMW Group Chairman Oliver Chippze who visited South Korea on the 17th to discuss cooperation. This is the second meeting between the two men since Mr Lee went to Europe on a business trip in July.

According to Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong met with senior BMW executives such as Chipze at the BMW driving center in Incheon Yongzong Island, and the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two companies, including projects such as BMW's latest electric vehicles equipped with "P5" batteries made by Samsung SDI.

Before the business meeting, the two leaders attended the handover ceremony of 10 BMW new i7 cars, its first flagship electric car, bought by some CEO of Samsung affiliates.

CTOnews.com learned that the partnership between Samsung and BMW dates back to 2009, when the two sides first announced that they would work together to develop electric vehicle batteries. Starting with the i3, BMW's first electric car, the i8 in 2015 and the iX and i4 in 2021 are equipped with Samsung SDI's high-performance lithium-ion batteries, while the iX and i4 use fifth-generation batteries.

In 2014, the two consolidated their partnership, promising to expand the supply of battery units and overseas operations, and to develop new battery materials. Five years later, Samsung SDI signed another agreement with BMW to supply 4 trillion won (21.32 billion yuan) worth of electric car batteries over the next 10 years. At present, driven by the booming electric car market, the battery giant has tripled its number, larger than expected.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported defects in Samsung SDI battery units in August, the partnership between the two seemed unshakable. BMW recalled a total of 83 electric vehicles, including the 2022 BMW i4 eDrive40 and i4 M50 and the 2022-2023 iX xDrive50 and iX M60, citing the potential risk of battery fires.

Besides BMW, other carmakers with close ties to Samsung's SDI include Volkswagen, Stellantis, Ford, Rivian and Lucid. The battery giant recently announced that it would produce the next generation of cylindrical battery units, hinting at expanding its customer base. Compared with the existing battery with a diameter of 21 mm, the battery with a diameter of 46 mm has a five-fold increase in energy capacity and a six-fold increase in output.

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