--- title: "Korea" canonical: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/issue/1/korea" publication: "The Hysteresis" publisher: "The Hysteresis" language: "en-US" guide: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/llms.txt" permalink: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/issue/1/korea" issue: 1 section: "korea" description: "LG, Samsung, SK — beyond the headlines" authors: ["Elise Huan-Cartwright"] published: 2026-05-25 updated: 2026-05-26 articles: 13 --- # The Hysteresis > The Hysteresis exists to give a small cross-functional team — strategy, investment, and procurement — a shared weekly instrument for reading the battery supply chain earlier than consensus. Success means the team consistently identifies inflection points in cell pricing, supplier health, and policy enforcement weeks or months before they surface in earnings calls, annual surveys, or trade press. The commercial mechanism is internal-first: the publication proves itself as a decision tool inside the organization, then extends to paid subscribers and a practitioner community as upside. Revenue follows utility — if the team makes better-timed procurement calls and competitive assessments because of what they read here, the publication earned its place. [Read on the website]() ## Issue 1 — Korea LG, Samsung, SK — beyond the headlines ### Q1 Loss Dashboard All three Korean battery makers posted operating losses in Q1 2026. Underneath the headlines, the economics are worse, but measuring how much worse depends on which company you're looking at. LG disclosed its AMPC contribution. Samsung SDI and SK On cited the credits without attaching a number, leaving the 45X decomposition incomplete for another cycle. Two out of three remains the structural hit rate for this method. Utilization is the critical unknown. Last disclosed figures put all three below 50% for full-year 2025. Nothing has surfaced for Q1. The H2 recovery thesis, built on ESS ramp and line conversion, stays guidance until utilization data confirms it. CATL, meanwhile, produced 2.6x the Korean trio's combined output in Q1. Korean makers compete on compliance eligibility, not cost. That framing holds only as long as FEOC enforcement does. - **Strip AMPC and LG's Loss Nearly Doubles** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Tag: LG Energy Reported operating loss KRW 207.8B on KRW 6.6T revenue. Disclosed AMPC: KRW 189.8B. Remove it and the underlying loss runs ~KRW 397.6B (editorial inference). Worth noting: Q1 2025 AMPC was KRW 458B. The subsidy cushion shrank 59% YoY even as losses persisted. - **Samsung SDI Improving, AMPC Figure Still Missing** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Tag: Samsung SDI Operating loss KRW 155.6B, narrowed 64.2% YoY from ~KRW 435B. Net profit turned positive at KRW 56.1B for the first time in six quarters. AMPC credited qualitatively but not quantified. Sixth straight operating loss, though the trajectory has been tightening ~KRW 60–80B per quarter. - **SK On Improves Off an Ugly Baseline** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Tag: SK On Operating loss KRW 349.2B, narrowing from Q4's KRW 441.4B. Revenue rose 23% QoQ. Context matters: Q4 was the worst quarter since Q2 2024, distorted by NA customer inventory adjustments and plant shutdowns. Real improvement, flattered by the comparison. Q1 AMPC undisclosed. - **Sub-50% Utilization, Q1 Figures Still Dark** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Tag: Utilization Gap Full-year 2025 rates: LG 47.6%, Samsung SDI 50%, SK On 48.7% (Seoul Economic Daily, March 2026). No company disclosed Q1 2026 utilization in English-language materials. This is the single most important variable for the H2 recovery thesis, and it remains unobservable. - **CATL at 2.6x Korean Output, Gap Widens** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Tag: Market Share Korean combined Q1 share: 15.6%, down 2.1pp YoY (SNE Research via Electrive). LG 23.7 GWh (+6.6%), SK On 9.0 GWh (−10.4%), Samsung SDI 5.3 GWh (−27.7%). CATL produced 99.5 GWh alone. That cost and scale asymmetry is the permanent backdrop to every Korean sourcing decision. ### LG Decomposition - [LG Energy Solution Q1 2026 — AMPC Collapse Masks a Narrowing Pre-Incentive Loss]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-05-23 · Format: The Earnings Decomposition LG Energy Solution's Q1 2026 operating loss widened to KRW 207.8B. Strip the 45X credits — down 59% YoY to KRW 189.8B — and the pre-incentive loss actually narrowed 12% sequentially, to KRW 398B. The headline is getting worse because the AMPC cushion is collapsing faster than the underlying business is healing. ESS revenue share hit mid-20%, ahead of pace, but five North American sites are ramping simultaneously with no public yield data from any of them. The margin structure that's supposed to drive H2 recovery remains undisclosed. ### The Other Two - [Samsung SDI and SK On Q1 2026: Loss Trajectories Narrow, but Neither Company Discloses AMPC]() — Published 2026-05-23 Samsung SDI's Q1 battery operating loss of KRW 176.6 billion continues a KRW 60–80 billion per quarter narrowing pattern. Net profit turned positive at KRW 56.1 billion. NH Securities estimated Q1 AMPC at KRW 84.9 billion pre-earnings. Apply that figure and the underlying battery loss is roughly KRW 261.5 billion. Samsung SDI confirmed only "increased AMPC benefits." The number itself remains undisclosed. ### Source Stack - **LG Energy Solution Q1 2026 Earnings Release** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Primary source for the KRW 189.8B incentive disclosure and 440 GWh 46-series backlog. ESS backlog not updated here. - **Samsung SDI Q1 2026 Earnings Release** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Segment financials are here, but AMPC appears only as a qualitative mention. No KRW figure, no decomposition possible. - **SK Innovation Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Verbatim management language on NA utilization drag and European strength. Note SK On's total silence on ESS margins. - **Korean Battery Makers' Utilization Rates Collapse Below 50%** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 The full 2022–2025 utilization decline series for all three companies, pulled from statutory annual reports. Verify our trailing figures here. - **LG ES Manufacturing Spend Targets 50 GWh+ US ESS Production** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Best English-language read on Holland, Michigan's 17 GWh status and the KRW 458B-to-190B incentive step-down across quarters. - **FEOC Compliance for Battery Energy Storage** — [Source]() — Published 2026-05-23 Quantifies the 30–40% ITC loss driving FEOC premiums and maps each Korean maker's facility eligibility. Notes anchor contracts already absorbing compliant supply. ## Other sections in Issue 1 - [Signal]() - [China]() - [The Log]() - [Defense]() - [Qualification]() ## More - [Publication guide]() - [Issue archive]()