ISU Specialty Chemical and Ares Materials will jointly develop polymer materials for solid-state batteries

This collaboration will combine the lithium sulfide and specialty chemicals production capabilities of ISU with Ares's application-oriented closed-loop AI framework.

Plano, Texas, USA, and Seoul, South Korea, November 3 (Reuters/ PR Newswire ) – ISU Specialty Chemical is a lithium sulfide producer under the South Korean ISU group; Ares Materials is a materials company headquartered in Plano, Texas, USA, with operations in Guadalajara, Mexico. Both parties announced on Wednesday that they will jointly develop polymer materials for solid-state batteries, as well as AI tools for optimizing these materials.

According to the agreement, Ares will develop polymer formulations, as well as the AI framework for optimizing them based on cell-level battery test data. ISU will provide its specialty chemicals and lithium sulfide manufacturing capabilities, and be responsible for production and commercial supply.

To develop polymers for solid-state battery cells, it is typically necessary to build and cyclically test the cells with each change in the formula. Battery manufacturers indicate that this process is time-consuming, and it is difficult to determine whether the results are due to a particular raw material or a certain manufacturing step, which limits the commercialization process. As technology continues to mature, cell specifications are also constantly changing. Therefore, a formula that has been verified for a specific purpose often needs to be readjusted after the target specifications change.

Materials AI tools can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the discovery-type tool, which is used to screen candidate molecules for the identification of new materials; the other is the formulation optimization tool, which is used to adjust the composition and process of a certain established chemical system until it achieves the desired performance in actual devices. This collaboration focuses on the second category. Ares indicates that its framework is trained based on performance data from actual device-level tests, and it breaks down the results of each test into the contributions of various formulation and process variables, then uses this model to select the next round of experiments. Both companies stated that the performance data and models generated during the development of the first material will be carried over to the next generation of products, allowing each new generation to build upon the existing performance model rather than starting from scratch.

Deputy Director Liz Lee stated: "The combination of material intelligence driven by AI with mature specialty chemical manufacturing can help address a key challenge in the industry: developing and commercializing better materials with fewer iterations and in less time." She said, "As battery and electronics manufacturers seek improved performance, collaboration that connects predictive material design with industrial-scale experience may become an important source of competitive advantage, especially in the field of next-generation battery materials where quality, cost, and scalability are all crucial."

ISU Specialty Chemical is a member of the Korean ISU group. The company reported revenues of approximately 411.5 billion Korean won in 2025, which is about 290 million US dollars. The company produces molecular weight regulators, including TDM, NOM, and NDM, and completed the construction of a commercial lithium sulfide factory this year. The ISU group is headquartered in Seoul, with a history dating back to the establishment of ISU Chemical in 1969; its three listed affiliated companies had combined revenues of over 3 trillion Korean won in 2025, which is about 2.2 billion US dollars.

ISU Specialty Chemical CEO Lyu Seung - Ho stated: "Lithium sulfide has enabled us to secure a place in the solid-state battery supply chain. This collaboration focuses on the aspects that come next." He said, "Each generation of products we develop in this way makes the next one faster, and that is precisely the kind of capability that customers from South Korea, Japan, and the United States are asking us to provide."

Ares Materials develops polymers, as well as a closed-loop AI infrastructure for optimizing their formulations based on real-world performance. The company has been selected for Apple Impact Accelerator and Amazon Climate Tech Accelerator.

Ares Materials CEO David Arreaga Ph.D. stated, "Every material supplier in this field is familiar with this pattern: you meet the specification requirements, then the specifications change, and you have to start over again." He said, "What we are working on together with ISU is aimed at breaking this cycle. Once a model knows how each formula variable affects device performance, the new goal is simply to make adjustments, rather than starting from scratch."

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