LG Chem will supply batteries for warehouse robots used by Amazon, the world's biggest retailer.
Industry insiders on Monday said LG will start supplying them in 2023. The global behemoth started using robots in its warehouses in 2012 and has more than 40,000 of them.
How much the deal is worth is not known. LG generated W2.82 trillion in sales from battery sales in the second quarter of this year, and the new client has lifted the mood there significantly (US$1=W1,184).
The deal is also a major fillip for LG's chances in gaining a bigger slice of the global market for service robots, which investment bank Macquarie expects to grow 32 percent annually and be worth US$100 billion by 2025.
LG declined to comment on the deal citing client confidentiality. The Korean firm has 22,016 patents in the battery field and aims to boost sales to W30 trillion by 2024. It beat China's CATL and Japan's Panasonic to the biggest market share with 25.1 percent in the first seven months of this year.
