L&F said on May 18 it has completed the L&F Plus plant, a dedicated subsidiary for LFP cathode materials, and will begin mass production by the end of the third quarter this year. L&F Plus completed the plant about 9 months after breaking ground in August last year. The facility was built on a roughly 100,000 square metre site in the phase 2 section of the national industrial complex in Guji-myeon, Dalseong-gun, Daegu. Total investment is 338.2 billion won based on a 60,000-ton capacity.

L&F Plus is a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for producing and selling L&F's LFP cathode materials. It will start mass production at an annual capacity of 30,000 tons by the end of the third quarter, then gradually expand to 60,000 tons a year by the first half of 2027 in line with demand for ESS in North America. L&F plans to build what it calls the world's first early large-scale mass-production system among non-Chinese companies, at a time when the global LFP supply chain is centred on China.

L&F Plus will mass-produce third-generation LFP cathode materials with higher energy density. The company said the high-density product, with a compaction density of at least 2.50 g/cc, uses technology to address LFP's structural limitation of low energy density. It is targeting the high value-added LFP market rather than low-priced general-purpose products. The company added it is in supply talks with multiple customers, with applications ranging from ESS for power grids and AI data centres to entry-level electric vehicles.

It is also pushing to internalise materials to secure cost competitiveness. Based on its technology in NCM precursors, it is working to internalise FP (iron phosphate) precursor technology, which has a heavy dependence on China, and is also developing a next-generation precursor-free process using iron oxide (Fe2O3).

Chief executive Je-hong Heo (허제홍) said completing the L&F Plus plant goes beyond simply adding a production base and marks the start of a two-track cathode-materials system in which its existing high-nickel business and its new LFP business grow together. He said the company will add a new growth axis in LFP on the back of a solid recovery in sales in its core business and move to become a key partner in the global battery materials market spanning EVs and ESS.