[Iclickart]
SEOUL -- South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, joined hands with Tsinghua University, a top Chinese school known for research in engineering and computer science, for joint research in next-generation microchips and car batteries.
In a recent ceremony in Beijing, SK and Tsinghua signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint research, company officials said, adding the event was supervised by group vice chairman Chey Jae-won in charge of SK's battery business.
The deal underlines SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won's initiative to nurture its battery business as a sustainable growth engine. SK Innovation selected Hungary as the venue for its first overseas battery plant in Komarom, home to Germany carmaker Audi and Japan's Suzuki.
SK Innovation hopes to build its second battery plant in China as domestic rivals LG Chem and Samsung SDI step up the production of batteries abroad to meet growing global demands.
SK Innovation aims to develop batteries that would allow an electric vehicle to travel more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) on a single charge by 2018 and 700 kilometers by early 2020.
In February, SK Innovation secured a stable source of crucial minerals used to produce batteries in a commodity off-take agreement with Australian Mines which runs cobalt and nickel mines at Sconi in Queensland.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
