J.P. Morgan South Korea FTM 29 May 26 LG Energy Solution; Korea Banks; Korea Battery Materials; Korea Economics and More

研报英文原文证据摘录

J.P. Morgan South Korea FTM 29 May 26 LG Energy Solution; Korea Banks; Korea Battery Materials; Korea Economics and More

Asia Pacific Equity Research

South Korea First to Market 29 May 2026

Top Stories

LG Energy Solution (Parsley Ong) (373220 KS, OW)

Oracle AIDC order just 1 of many. Datacenters to form 18% of US ESS demand by 2032

LGES’s share price rallied by 15% today (KOSPI flat) due to media reports of a 6 Gwh ESS order win tied to Oracle’s AIDC

project in Michigan. We believe the order includes systems integration via LGES Vertech, resulting in a >$230/kwh ASP, with

shipments potentially commencing in 2026. We upgraded LGES to OW in July 2025 as we expect the US Big Beautiful Bill to

help LGES increase US ESS market share to >35% by 2027 (JPM note). While LGES’s share price rallied initially as it rapidly

amassed >100 Gwh of orders, it has underperformed SDI for the past 6 months (LGES +6% vs SDI +>120%, KOSPI:>2x), due

primarily to its ESS division missing profit estimates in 4Q25-1Q26 due to a high fixed cost burden as the company ramps up

five new plants. We expect earnings to turn significantly better in 2H26 as ESS volumes ramp up, with 2Q OP turning back to

black at W86bn. Remain OW.

Korea Banks (Jihyun Cho)

Policy rate on hold, but more hawkish policy tone, indicating incremental positives for NIM

The BoK held the policy rate at 2.50% as expected, but the message turned more hawkish as 1) a more upbeat economic

growth outlook supports the rationale for rate hikes along with 2) rising inflation and 3) the increasing need for financial stability.

May's dot plots also point to 1-3 hikes over the next six months, hinting at steeper rate hikes ahead. Accordingly, our economics