[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] The stock price of SM BEXEL CO.,LTD.(010580), a manufacturing affiliate of the SM Group, is surging during trading hours. It appears that buying interest is surging following news that the company is undertaking a project to secure technologies—such as the design of rechargeable batteries incorporating LMR cathode materials—from a U.S.-based global automaker and to establish a material performance evaluation system.

According to MP Doctor on the 9th, as of 11:09 a.m., SM BEXEL CO.,LTD. is trading at 2,480 won, up 18.38% from the previous trading day.
Earlier that day, the company issued a press release stating, “Through collaboration with a global U.S.-based automaker, we are conducting a project to secure the design, manufacturing, and evaluation technologies for cylindrical rechargeable batteries incorporating LMR (Lithium Manganese Rich), a next-generation cathode material, and to establish an evaluation system capable of systematically verifying the performance of this new material.”
The core objective of this project is to verify the performance and feasibility of LMR—which is gaining attention as a next-generation high-energy-density battery material—by applying it to actual batteries. SM BEXEL CO.,LTD. utilizes its own semi-commercial cylindrical battery production line to carry out the entire process—from electrode design and battery manufacturing to formation tailored to material characteristics, as well as initial performance and reliability evaluations—on an actual cell-by-cell basis.
In this project, a U.S.-based global automaker is responsible for designing cylindrical batteries that account for LMR characteristics, optimizing electrochemical process conditions, and analyzing changes in battery performance resulting from material modifications. SM BEXEL CO.,LTD. is responsible for reviewing design conditions for the anode and cathode electrodes, as well as electrode manufacturing, application and production on the semi-commercial battery assembly line, initial charge/discharge and electrochemical characteristic evaluations, and the accumulation of data on new materials and the establishment of evaluation criteria.
The company explains that, in the medium to long term, it expects to build a battery materials database based on the accumulated material property and battery evaluation data and to advance this into a data-driven battery development platform by integrating it with AI (artificial intelligence)-based material and battery performance prediction technologies.