LS Eco Energy will enhance its efforts regarding its submarine cable and rare-earth magnet businesses to increase its revenue to 1.8 trillion won ($1.3 billion) by 2030 from 731 billion won in 2023, the Vietnamese subsidiary of LS Cable & System (C&S) said Thursday.
In particular, the company is considering building submarine cable plants in Europe and Vietnam to capitalize on the soaring demand for extra-high-voltage submarine cables, amid the growing construction of large-scale offshore grids and wind power plants globally. Its parent firm has already decided to invest in the North American submarine cable market by establishing a company named LS Greenlink.
“There will be a continued global demand for large amounts of electricity over the next 15 years,” LS Eco Energy CEO Lee Sang-ho told reporters and investors during the Value-up Day event. “With the expansion of our cable business, we will push ahead with the rare-earth magnet business for our continuous growth.”
Due to the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and data centers for artificial intelligence, the global demand for electricity is expected to jump to 62,159 TWh by 2050 from 24,700 TWh in 2021, causing a desperate need for communications cables.
“Our company is expected to post record earnings again this year,” Lee said.
LS Eco Energy posted 731 billion won in sales and 29.4 billion won in operating profit last year. During the first quarter of this year, its revenue and operating profit reached 179.9 billion won and 9.7 billion won, respectively, surpassing market expectations.
The CEO emphasized his company’s capabilities in producing cables at relatively lower prices, due to abundant labor forces and raw materials in Vietnam.
Since the company started the operation in the Southeast Asian country three decades ago, it has grown into the country’s leading cable maker, which generates 30 percent of its revenue from North America and Europe. In collaboration with LS C&S, it has also maintained the top spot in the Danish cable market for eight years.
“Companies leaving China for geopolitical reasons regard Vietnam as an alternative,” Lee said. “Vietnam also has the world’s second-largest rare-earth deposits, following China.”
LS Eco Energy plans to source 500 tons of rare earth from a Vietnamese mine annually to produce rare-earth metals and alloys, which will be used by LS Eco Advanced Materials, another LS C&S subsidiary, to manufacture permanent magnets for EVs.
“Rare-earth metals are necessary for electrification,” Lee said. “In particular, demand for neodymium magnets will show a six-fold increase by 2050, due to increases in EVs and offshore wind power facilities.”
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