The US International Trade Commission last week ruled on a dispute between two South Korean companies, effectively siding with LG Chem which had accused SKI of misappropriating trade secrets.
The USITC February 10 ruling prohibits SKI importing certain lithium ion batteries, battery cells, battery modules, battery packs, and components for 10 years.
It does allow SKI to continue importing materials needed to repair EV batteries for Kia which have already been sold, plus continue importing components to manufacture lithium ion batteries for Volkswagen for two years, and for Ford for four years.
"While there are exemptions to protect SKI's existing US customers, the decision limits the supply of lithium ion cells open to the US market in the near term, but also threatens the buildout of the country's supply chain through the 2020s," Benchmark said.
SKI's US$2.6 billion plant in the US state Georgia which was set to provide almost half of the country's free market capacity by the end of 2021, according to Benchmark.
"However, this saga is not over just yet as SKI has the right to appeal the ITC's decision, LG Chem remains willing to settle, and [US president Joe] Biden could veto the ban although this remains unlikely," it said.
Georgia's governor Brian Kemp on Friday urged Biden to review the USITC ruling.
Without presidential action, the long-term prospects of SKI's EV battery production facility in Jackson County would be harmed significantly, he said.
Biden has set a clean energy agenda and Benchmark has estimated his plan to convert the US government fleet to EVs would require 61,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.
The rise of green energy and EVs was putting the commodities market not in a supercycle but at "the start of an unprecedented and revolutionary cycle", mining identity and financier Robert Friedland said last week.
