--- title: "Korea" canonical: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/issue/8/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/8/korea" issue: 8 section: "korea" description: "LG, Samsung, SK — beyond the headlines" authors: ["Elise Huan-Cartwright"] published: 2026-08-03 updated: 2026-07-31 articles: 16 --- # 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 8 — Korea LG, Samsung, SK — beyond the headlines ### Q2 Verification Dashboard All three Korean battery makers reported Q2 operating profits on July 30, each reversing Q1 losses. A clean sweep. Except the underlying quality of those profits varies so sharply that treating them as comparable figures would be a mistake. LGES filed a complete 45X bridge. Samsung SDI named AMPC as a driver but did not disclose the number in English materials. SK On bundled unquantified customer compensation with unquantified credits into a single operating line. Three profits, three very different levels of transparency. Every number below carries a verification flag: directly disclosed, arithmetically derivable, or structurally unavailable from public filings. Utilization and ASP remain dark across all three. - **LGES Swings to KRW 113.3B Operating Profit** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: LGES Reported Verified. Q2 operating profit KRW 113.3 billion, reversing Q1's KRW 207.8 billion loss. EBITDA KRW 1.330 trillion. H1 ESS revenue grew 4.6x YoY per the IR deck. No GWh shipment volume disclosed for either segment. - **LGES Discloses Ex-Credit Loss: KRW -127.7B** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: LGES Ex-Credit Verified. Company-disclosed, not arithmetic. KRW 241.0 billion in North American production incentives stripped out yields an ex-credit operating loss of KRW 127.7 billion. Improved KRW 269.9 billion QoQ from Q1's ex-credit result. The only complete 45X bridge filed by any of the three. - **Samsung SDI Profits After Seven Consecutive Loss Quarters** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: Samsung Reported Verified. Consolidated operating profit KRW 204 billion; battery segment KRW 159 billion. Management cited product mix, AMPC, tariff effects, and UPS/BBU demand. Note: H1 net profit of KRW 527.7 billion includes KRW 402 billion in non-recurring affiliate equity income. - **Samsung SDI AMPC Absent From English Disclosure** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: Samsung Gap Not verifiable. Q2 English IR deck names AMPC as a profit driver but withholds the figure. Q1 KRX filing showed KRW 80.5 billion consolidated; Q2 KRX filing has not been reviewed. Battery-segment AMPC allocation is never broken out. Ex-credit profit cannot be derived. - **SK On Posts KRW 821.8B Operating Profit** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: SK On Reported Verified. Revenue KRW 2.946 trillion, up 57% QoQ. Operating profit swung KRW 1.171 trillion from Q1's loss. Management cited expanded Asian sales, a one-off customer compensation payment, and higher AMPC. An AMPC revenue reclassification complicates QoQ comparison. - **SK On Recurring Profit Unverifiable From Filings** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: SK On Gap Not calculable. Neither the customer compensation amount nor AMPC is quantified in public materials. The BOSK JV exit saves an estimated KRW 500 billion annually starting H2 2026, a real structural improvement. But Q2 recurring operating performance remains opaque. - **LGES Cash Conversion Collapsed on Inventory Build** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: LGES Cash Verified. Operating cash flow: KRW 25 billion against KRW 1.330 trillion EBITDA. Working-capital outflow of KRW 1.185 trillion absorbed nearly everything, driven by a KRW 1.091 trillion inventory build. Whether that inventory is ESS commissioning stock or unsold cells is undisclosed. - **Utilization and ASP Dark Across All Three** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Tag: Uniform Gaps Gap across all three makers. No Q2 utilization rate, cell ASP, or $/kWh realization appears in any July 30 filing. Last public baselines: LGES 47.6%, Samsung SDI 50.0%, SK On 48.7% (2025 annual figures). Whether Q2 profits reflect price stabilization or volume mix remains unverifiable. ### Earnings Decomposition - [Only One of the Three Korean Q2 Improvements Is a Number You Can Use]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-07-31 · Format: The Earnings Decomposition All three Korean cell makers reported sequential improvement on July 30, and the three improvements are not the same class of quantity. LGES set KRW 241.0B of North American incentives against KRW 113.3B of reported operating profit: a point estimate, and an underlying loss of KRW 127.7B. Samsung SDI disclosed KRW 107.7B of AMPC at the consolidated layer, one level above the battery segment a buyer actually contracts with, which yields a ceiling and no floor. SK On's KRW 821.8B reversal contains three unquantified inputs, leaving the sign of recurring profit open. None of the three disclosed a 2026 utilization rate. ### StarPlus LFP Timeline - [Three StarPlus LFP Dates, No Commissioning Milestone]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-07-31 Samsung SDI's [March 24 release](https://www.samsungsdi.com/sdi-now/sdi-news/4822.html) says StarPlus "is expected to mass-produce" LFP from Q4 2026 — facility-level, conditional, no GWh threshold attached. [ETNews on July 6](https://en.etnews.com/20260706200004), citing unnamed industry sources, puts the first LFP line's production start at September, ahead of Samsung's own target. The June 25 ETNews report puts LFP equipment installation completion in H1 2027, expanded supply from H2. ### Earnings Cycle Sources - **Samsung SDI Discloses KRW 107.7B AMPC — and Claims Profitability Without It** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Resolves the key disclosure gap this cycle. Ex-subsidy KRW 96.1B profit sets Samsung SDI apart from LGES. - **SK On Posts Record Quarterly Profit as BlueOval SK Dissolution Completes** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 KRW 821.8B operating profit includes undisclosed one-time gains. Separate the structural from the transactional before citing this number. - **SK Innovation Earnings Call: BlueOval Savings Quantified, AMPC Still Dark** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 KRW 500B annual fixed-cost relief confirmed. Q2 AMPC and Ford compensation amounts remain undisclosed. The 45X gap persists. - **LGES Wins Multi-Trillion-Won Honda Prismatic Deal** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 Largest project win this cycle. Honda's shrinking EV lineup creates a demand-side dependency worth watching through H2. - **Samsung SDI StarPlus LFP Buildout: Three Cell Formats, Staggered Timelines** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 200Ah, 273Ah, 300Ah lines on different clocks. Tesla named as 300Ah customer. Reframes the commissioning picture. - **Seoul Economic Daily: Korean Battery Makers Declare the "Chasm" Over** — [Source]() — Published 2026-07-31 The consensus narrative forming around Q2. Know what the market believes so you can test it against the decomposition. ## Other sections in Issue 8 - [Signal]() - [China]() - [The Log]() - [Defense]() - [Qualification]() ## More - [Publication guide]() - [Issue archive]()