Germany’s BASF and Japan’s Toda Kogyo are in exclusive talks to extend an existing Japanese collaboration in cathode active materials (CAM) and precursors to North America. Last year, the companies established BASF Toda Battery Materials to provide CAM for lithium-ion batteries in Japan. A combination of their respective CAM businesses in North America would strengthen their alliance in the global market and create additional synergies, the companies said. BASF is to take a majority stake in the proposed venture.

The collaboration is planned to focus on manufacturing a broad range of CAM and precursors for lithium-ion batteries used in the automotive, consumer electronics and stationary storage markets. Tadashi Kubota, chairman of Toda Kogyo, noted that the automotive lithium-ion battery market is still in its infancy, with annual growth of above 30% expected in the coming years.