The JV’s portfolio offering will cover next-generation technologies, including a very large portion of high-nickel chemistries. The latter have become faster than anticipated the car industry’s preferred solution to enable higher energy density and longer driving ranges and this is consequently significantly impacting demand for mid-nickel chemistries. Umicore successfully fast-tracked innovation on the next generation higher nickel product and process capabilities and now offers industry-leading high nickel cathode material technology, as also witnessed by today’s announcement.
In the short-term, Umicore is still largely exposed to mid-nickel NMC platforms. Sourcing of raw materials will be key going forward !