LG Chem
LG Chem Ltd. (Korean: LG화학), often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the 10th largest chemical company in the world by sales in 2017. It was first established as the Lucky Chemical Industrial Corporation, which manufactured cosmetics. It is now solely a business-to-business company (consumer products division was spun off into LG Household & Health Care). The company has eight factories in South Korea and a network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. This network includes a holding company in China, 14  overseas manufacturing subsidiaries, five marketing subsidiaries, seven representative offices, and two R&D centers. The "Financial Times" reported on April 2, 2017, that LG Chem would be expanding battery production in China. At the time, China accounted for one-third of the company's total sales. In April 2019, LG Chem sued rival SK Innovation for allegedly stealing trade secrets for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. Business and product areas. LG Chem has three main business areas: Basic materials and chemicals. LG Chem is a supplier of petrochemicals ranging from basic distillates to specialty polymers. For example, it is a large producer  of common plastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-acrylonitrile resin (SAN), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It also produces raw materials and liquids, including plasticizers, specialty additives, alcohols, polyolefins, acrylic acid, synthetic rubber, styrenics, performance polymers, engineering plastics, elastomers, conductive resins, and other chemicals. Information technology and electronics materials. LG Chem supplies display and optical films, polarizers, printed circuit materials, and toners. It also supplies LCD polarizers, which are multi-layer sheets of film applied to the top and bottom surfaces of TFT-LCD panels to transmit the light from the backlight unit through the panel, and 3D FPR  (film-type patterned retarder) film, which enables three-dimensional viewing. Energy solutions. LG Chem completed development and began mass production of Korea's first lithium-ion batteries back in 1999. At the end of 2011, LG Chem was the world's third-largest maker with an annual production capacity of 1 billion cells. It is also a supplier of automotive battery for electric vehicles, such as the Ford Focus, Chevrolet Volt and Renault ZOE. LG Chem Michigan is a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem based in Holland, Michigan which operates a plant to manufacture advanced battery cells for electric  vehicles in Holland, Michigan. The million Holland plant received 50% of its funding from U.S. Department of Energy matching stimulus funds, and started manufacturing battery systems in 2013. The plant can produce enough cells per year to build between 50,000 and 200,000 battery packs for electric cars and hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt by General Motors, the Ford Focus Electric, and upcoming plug-in electric vehicles from other carmakers. Its research and development arm, called LG Chem Power, is based in nearby Troy, Michigan. LG Chem Power and LG Chem Michigan were originally one company called "Compact Power, Inc.