LG Chem CEO calls for 'co-developer' role with customers in strategic pivot

LG Chem President and CEO Kim Dong-chun said the company must become a "co-developer" that works alongside customers to solve problems, stressing that "the starting point of converting must always be the customer."

Kim made the remarks in a recent LinkedIn post, saying "converting does not simply mean improving product functions" but rather "rallying all of LG Chem's technological capabilities to reshape the competitive landscape in a rapidly changing market."

At a town hall meeting on June 22, Kim announced plans to develop semiconductors, mobility, robotics materials and anticancer drugs as future core businesses, with 15 trillion won ($10.2 billion) earmarked for research and development through 2035. The strategy involves reducing the weight of the basic petrochemical business and restructuring the portfolio around higher-value operations. He said at the time that his goal was to build LG Chem into a "technology-driven converting company."

In the LinkedIn post, Kim said the company's past success formula had been "how do we sell more of the high-quality materials we make," but that today LG Chem must ask different questions — such as "can we custom-design ultra-light, ultra-strong materials to build more agile robots?" and "how can our packaging solve the warping problem in AI semiconductors?"

"LG Chem must dig deep into customers' processes and become a co-developer," he added. "That is the very essence of the converting we are pursuing."

Kim's push for a structural overhaul stems from the crisis gripping LG Chem's legacy petrochemical business. The basic petrochemical segment, once a reliable cash cow, remained in the red through last year as a supply glut from China weighed on the industry.

The segment is likely to return to profit in the first half of this year, but that improvement is largely attributed to a lagging effect — a profitability boost arising from the time gap between raw-material procurement and production — following the Middle East war. Once crude oil prices stabilize, a reverse-lag effect could push the business back into the red. With China showing no signs of halting capacity additions in basic petrochemicals, LG Chem faces mounting pressure to accelerate the development of future growth engines to escape the cycle of losses.

To meet its targets, LG Chem is focusing on securing competitiveness in advanced packaging materials for the semiconductor and infrastructure sectors. As part of that effort, it is expanding development of high-value products including packaging adhesives, thermal management materials and glass substrates. The company also plans to scale up production of copper-clad laminates, a key material for AI semiconductors that has drawn growing industry attention. Through aggressive investment, LG Chem aims to grow its electronic materials business to 2 trillion won by 2030.

In mobility and robotics materials, LG Chem plans to expand beyond electric vehicle materials into robot structural materials and precision-drive bonding materials. In anticancer drug development, the company intends to strengthen its pipeline competitiveness through partnerships with global clinical research organizations.