We hosted an EV battery tour last week, and over 30 investors attended on/offline (see summary table on p.2 and details on pp.3-15). While overall EV demand appears softer, suppliers remained firm on both near- and long-term growth prospects, and their stance toward the chip shortage has turned constructive. We find the Korean battery value chain’s technology initiatives (on both performance and cost) impressive amid continuing raw material inflation. Last, we believe the recent raw material pricing trend (stabilizing nickel vs. upward lithium – note) favors the high-nickel battery supply chain (mainly Korean suppliers) and point to the U.S. policy update as the next key sector catalyst. We maintain our secular long-term growth and constructive stance on the sector. Order of preference within the Korea battery chain: upstream cathode (L&F/EBM) > cell (LGES/SSDI/SKInno) = foil (SKC) > separator (SKIET). However, when raw material prices starts normalizing, cell makers could show a better performance vs. the rest of materials upon margin improvement.