A fire broke out at the Samsung SDI battery factory in China. This occurred just weeks after Samsung stated that it was defective batteries that caused its Note 7 mobile to burst into flames. Samsung had implemented several controls to prevent it from happening again. The fire at the factory in Tianjin was described as minor and it was extinguished with no casualties or significant impact to the plant’s operation.
Samsung Electronics faced a massive issue with with its Note 7 batteries catching fire and that resulted in Note 7s being banned from flights and around 2.5 million devices being recalled in 2016.
Samsung SDI is believed to have invested more than US$100 million in safety measurements and it will continue providing batteries for Samsung’s next generation models.
Samsung is delaying the launch of its Galaxy S8 to make sure there are absolutely no problems with the device.
Analyst Comment
Samsung SDI is a separately listed company, that Samsung owns just under 20% of. At one time, NEC held a significant share, but is no longer listed as a shareholder on the Investor Relations page. In reading this article, I remembered that a chemist that I know said that a battery is a chemical store of energy, and that’s also the definition of a bomb. The more energy you try to store in a small space, the harder and riskier it is! (BR)
