South Korea continues to be a global driver in hydrogen and fuel cells, with leading industry players and by driving the use of the technologies across society, especially for power generation and mobility. We talked briefly to Harry Oh, Impact Coatings’ Regional President in Korea, to understand where the country is heading.
Harry, how did Korea achieve this position as a technology and market driver for fuel cells and hydrogen?
“It actually started already in the late 1990s following the financial crises. Importing almost all of our energy, Korea was, and is, very exposed to fuel price volatility and geopolitical uncertainty. The country concluded that we must lead in energy technologies that reduce dependencies and create export industries. Fuel cells was an attractive technology with high efficiency, allowing distributed generation, and the possibility of reducing carbon footprints. But also, the conclusion that LNG, which Korea is importing in large scale, can be used in fuel cells, directly or reformed to hydrogen in different applications.
This resulted in fuel cell technology being classified as a national strategic technology initiating massive public R&D funding and long-term programs. Korea’s industrial structure with large conglomerates has made this decade-long national initiative possible.”
We’re at the beginning of 2026, where does Korea stand today?
“Korea remains one of the most active and committed countries in hydrogen and fuel cells, even though challenges remain scaling the market economically. Government backing continues and large companies remain committed.
Recently, stationary applications for data centers, distributed power and maritime applications have emerged in importance, most often based on solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology.”
Tell us about SOFC activities in Korea
“One of the leaders is Doosan Fuel Cell that has been actively developing SOFC technology as part of its strategy to move beyond its traditional phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) portfolio. The company licenses its core SOFC technology, a metal-supported SOFC design, from Ceres Power (UK). This partnership underpins Doosan’s ability to manufacture and commercialize advanced SOFC stacks and systems.
In July 2025, Doosan commenced mass production of SOFC stacks and power systems at its dedicated factory in Jeollabuk-do. This facility has an annual SOFC production capacity of approximately 50 MW, targeting major global markets especially for data centers, distributed power, and maritime applications. 50 MW corresponds to powering 50,000 homes, or 2-5 large scale data centers.
There are several other companies involved in SOFC in Korea. One such company is HD Hydrogen, a subsidiary under HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) focused on hydrogen fuel cell systems, including SOFC technologies for power generation and maritime applications. KSOE has also acquired a controlling stake in Convion, a European SOFC/SOEC developer, to bring advanced SOFC/solid oxide electrolyzer technology into Korea.”
What about mobility applications?
“There are about 300 hydrogen refueling stations in Korea, which makes us the second most developed market globally for hydrogen mobility infrastructure after China.
Hyundai Motor has been, and continues to be, the main industrial driver for fuel cell technology in Korea and one of the major drivers globally. Last year the company launched its new generation Hyundai NEXO fuel cell-electric SUV, with increased performance and efficiency, and a driving range of more than 800 km.
HTWO (H-Two), which was introduced in 2020 as Hyundai’s fuel cell brand, is today the company’s brand and business platform for all hydrogen related activities. Hyundai is diversifying its offering into the full span of the hydrogen chain, including hydrogen production, storage & transport, all types of mobility fuel cell systems (passenger cars, trucks, buses, ships and trains), stationary power generation, and hydrogen infrastructure.”
The future looks bright in the home market of Impact Coatings (China), where Regional President Yaowen Wang and the Coating Service Center (CSC) team are currently (November 2025) producing 24 hours per day, six days per week, to support the company’s hydrogen fuel cell industry customers. Recent policy signals from the Chinese government and associated industry organizations indicate there will be more work to come.
In October, the China Society of Automotive Engineers, with guidance from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the Roadmap 3.0 for Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). Among other things, the new release of the roadmap predicts the number of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to exceed 500,000 in 2030, 1 million in 2035, and 4 million in 2040.
China has accounted for about 50% of global sales of FCEVs in recent years, primarily rolling out commercial FCEVs, like heavy-duty trucks and buses. There were an estimated 25,000 FCEVs in the country at the beginning of 2025, where heavy-duty applications are also expected to dominate future deployment. Advantages in commercial applications, such as 5-10 minute refueling time, around 600-km range, reliable cold-weather performance, and significantly lower weight than batteries, make the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain ideal for logistics and long-distance transportation for the vast distances across China.
Meanwhile, Hydrogen Energy is one of the priority strategic industries in China’s new 15th Five-Year Plan for 2026-2030.
The document of “Recommendations” for the five-year plan was adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee on October 20-23, 2025. The Recommendations propose to create emerging pillar industries and accelerate the development of strategic emerging industry clusters such as new energy, new materials, and aerospace.
The Recommendations also propose forward-looking planning for future industries, promoting quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embody intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications as new economic growth drivers.
One area that is not expected to be included in the forthcoming Five-Year Plan is NEVs (New Energy Vehicles), primarily due to global overcapacity for battery-electric cars. While NEVs include FCEVs, the focus on hydrogen energy, including its production, infrastructure and applications for hydrogen, is expected to have an overall positive push forward also for the FCEV industry.
The 15th Five-Year Plan is expected to be released and adopted in March 2026.
To meet forecasted volumes, the Impact Coatings (China) Coating Service Center in Shanghai already 2024 received its first high-volume INLINECOATER™ IC2000 PVD equipment, which is primarily used for the Premium FC bipolar plate coating for PEM fuel cells used in heavy-duty FCEV applications.
The facility has been optimized for bipolar plates and related hydrogen components, featuring an automated cleaning line, robotic material handling, as well as automated post-coating inspection, all taking place in a cleanroom environment.
“China is today the global leader in the roll-out of fuel cell trucks and other commercial fuel cell vehicles. Our Premium FC coating provides the cost-efficiency, robustness and long life required by the OEMs and their fuel cell stack manufacturers,” said Yaowen Wang, Regional President, China.
“Our collaboration throughout many years with Impact Coatings has been of great importance for the successful establishment of our large inhouse PVD coating facility based on several PVD coating units from Impact Coatings.
By utilizing the high flexibility and quality of the PVD machines from Impact Coatings we have been able to build up a highly efficient coating production facility for our extensive portfolio of protective and decorative PVD coatings all matching the world class level of our high-end eyewear frames.”
Impact Coatings has entered into a collaboration with Smoltek Hydrogen to explore the potential integration of Smoltek Hydrogen’s carbon nanofiber (CNF) technology into the Impact Coatings INLINECOATER™ series of PVD systems.
Carbon nanofibers have the potential to significantly enhance the performance of coatings used in PEM electrolyzers and PEM fuel cells – two critical applications in the transition to green hydrogen.
The aim of the collaboration is to evaluate whether Smoltek’s proprietary CNF technology for growth of nanofiber can be effectively integrated into Impact Coatings’ INLINECOATER systems, and to validate the scalability and industrial feasibility of manufacturing CNF-enhanced coatings in volume production environments.
Jonas Nilsson, CEO of Impact Coatings:“We look forward to working with Smoltek Hydrogen to explore how their innovative CNF technology can complement and strengthen our coating technology offering. By combining our expertise in PVD coatings with their groundbreaking materials, we aim to develop solutions that meet future needs in hydrogen production and fuel cells.”
Ellinor Ehrnberg, CEO of Smoltek Hydrogen:“This collaboration with Impact Coatings is an important opportunity to further explore the potential of our CNF technology and bring it closer to commercialization. By combining our expertise in carbon nanofibers with Impact Coatings’ experience in PVD technology, we look forward to jointly exploring new ways to enhance performance in critical applications such as PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells.”
The INLINECOATER™ series, comprising the IC500, IC500+, and IC2000, will now be available with optional HiPIMS (High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering) technology as a customer-specific feature. HiPIMS enables improved coating uniformity and performance in tailored applications. The technology requires specialized power supplies, which will be provided by Swedish company Ionautics AB, a spin-off from the research environment at Linköping University.
“Together with Ionautics, we have successfully tested the HiPIMS technology at one of our INLINECOATER customers, with very positive results,” said Kristian Hillgren, CTO at Impact Coatings. The test involved retrofitting an existing INLINECOATER IC500 with HiPIMS power supplies from Ionautics. The retrofit was carried out jointly by engineers from both companies, with coating process optimization conducted in close collaboration with the customer’s experts.
Successful tests were performed on the INLINECOATER™ IC500 using HiPIMS power supplies from Ionautics
HiPIMS technology will be offered as an option for all machine types in the INLINECOATER series, with first deliveries expected in Q3 2025. Retrofit solutions will also be available for existing INLINECOATER systems upon request.
Jonas Nilsson, CEO of Impact Coatings, commented:“By combining our expertise in building machines for high-volume production with Ionautics’ deep knowledge of coatings and power supply technology, we can quickly deliver new, commercially viable solutions that meet the demands of large-scale manufacturing.”
Johan Ahlström, CEO of Ionautics, added:“Impact Coatings’ systems – designed for both prototyping and high-volume production – together with the collaborative opportunities at their Coating Service Center in Linköping, make them an ideal partner for commercializing next-generation HiPIMS-based coatings.”
HiPIMS, or High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering, is an advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology that uses short, high-power pulses to create dense, uniform, and high-quality thin films. Compared to conventional sputtering, HiPIMS enables better control over film structure, improved adhesion, and enhanced performance in demanding applications. The technology is particularly suited for precision coatings in industries such as automotive, electronics, and hydrogen energy.
Japan’s major hydrogen event, H2 & FC Expo 2025, took place in Tokyo end of February. One of the visitors was Harry Oh, Impact Coatings’ Regional President, Korea & Japan. Here Harry shares his takeaways from the show and thoughts on recent and future Japanese hydrogen developments.
I attended the 23rd International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Expo which took place at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo from February 19 through 21, 2025. This was part of the Smart Energy Week which also was the venue for such expos and shows as Battery Japan, PV Expo, Wind Expo, Smart Grid Expo, Biomass Exhibition, and Zero-emission thermal power generation. In Japan, renewable energies are expected to play a pivotal role in reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Smart Energy Week hence attracts and gathers a full range of companies showcasing their latest development in renewable technologies, such as hydrogen and fuel cells, solar power, wind power, etc.
As a visitor mostly interested in the H2 & FC Expo, it was very encouraging to see how relevant Impact Coatings’ coating solutions can be in the hydrogen production and fuel cell manufacturing supply chain, especially when visiting companies’ exhibition booths displaying their capabilities in producing bipolar plates and other components in the cell stacks. Additionally, I was able to reaffirm the commercial viability of recent customer inquiries from Japan regarding our coating solutions durability, performance, and cost. For example, I came across bipolar plate manufacturers showing interest in applying PVD coating solutions from Impact Coatings. We will be sure to follow up on their requests.
The Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Honda both unveiled their latest developments within FCEVs and stationary fuel cells at H2 & FC Expo 2025.
The main attractions were the announcements from Honda and Toyota in unveiling their latest development with FCEVs and stationary fuel cells. Honda presented their plan to mass produce fuel cell modules for FCEVs by 2027 and fuel cell power generator for stationary fuel cells by 2026, claiming to have achieved cost reduction by half and increasing of durability by two times. Their entrant to the stationary fuel cell market is interesting and creates more opportunities for companies in the value chain. For Toyota, who has been the perennial market leader in FCEV development, the third-generation fuel cell system, is due to be installed in its FCEVs for key markets including Japan, Europe, North America, and China in 2026. With these two major announcements at the expo, the global hydrogen market will continue to grow vertically and horizontally as manifested by a growing number of international companies at the expo present.
Changing the topic to hydrogen production, Japan has an ambitious and challenging goal of securing annual green hydrogen supply of 3 Mt by 2030, 12 Mt by 2040, and 20 Mt by 2050. The latest technology trend in Japan for commercializing electrolyzers is in SOEC and AEM, with PEMEC as a proven technology. From talking to major electrolyzer companies in Japan, they are exploring both domestic and overseas projects to produce liquid hydrogen and/or green ammonia to meet the demand. I could clearly observe that the increasing interest from Japanese companies to look for opportunities in Europe and other regions. The pure domestic possibilities may be limited. For example, one electrolyzer company that we had been engaging with on providing coating solutions expressed they were looking to expand more in Europe. While there are some uncertainties in the Japanese domestic market with projects being paused i.e., importing liquid hydrogen, we still see focus on continued development with the launch of new government plans for making hydrogen production and funding to make usage cost competitive.
Overall, this year’s Smart Energy Week and H2 & FC Expo was an enormous success with 1,492 exhibitors, 68,840 visitors, 200 conference sessions, 649 international exhibitors from 39 countries including Sweden!
Harry OhRegional President, Korea & Japan
Today Impact Coatings COO, Carina Höglund, proudly accepted the keys to our new headquarters in Linköping, Sweden, from the landlord Wilzéns Fastigheter AB, represented by Dennis Nyholm. Peter Högfeldt, who has managed the facility project from Impact Coatings, also participated in the ceremony.
The just finalized building will house Impact Coatings’ operations, R&D, and Swedish Coating Service Center, as well as new and improved offices. The new headquarters has been built to support the continued growth of the Impact Coatings group with double the space of the old facility and top-of-the-line equipment updates.
“We are extremely happy to now start moving into a brand new facility. It is a building optimized for our needs, with doubled production areas, clean room, good connections to the central city and to important logistical junctions, and located in close proximity to Linköping Science Park and Linköping University,” said Carina Höglund.
The move to the new facility will be ongoing throughout 2024 to minimize disturbance of coating system assembly, system delivery, and operations in Coating Services in Sweden.
We look forward to formally welcoming you to our inauguration of the new Impact Coatings headquarters in early 2025. However, you will find our office teams installed already on October 15.
Our new address is:Impact Coatings ABCobolgatan 5SE-583 30 LinköpingSweden
Lena Åberg has been appointed CFO and member of the Group Management Team at Impact Coatings AB, effective November 20, 2024. She succeeds Bengt Vernerson, who has been acting CFO since February 2023
Lena Åberg has extensive experience in financial management across large and small companies, as well as listed and unlisted companies. She is accustomed to working in an international environment, including consolidating international subsidiaries. Lena is currently Senior Group Business Controller at Saab where the work includes reporting to group management and the board as well as implementing various improvement projects. Before her years at Saab, Lena was Finance Director at Qstar Försäljning AB, which is part of DCC plc. She also brings to Impact Coatings experience from smaller high-tech companies, for example Sectra and SICK IVP. Lena Åberg will be based at Impact Coatings’ head office in Linköping. She will be part of the Group Management Team, which, with this recruitment, will consist entirely of permanent personnel.
“I look forward to having Lena on board. She has a relevant background from both smaller and larger companies, has international experience but roots in Linköping, and has many years of experience in managing teams. Having Lena as permanent CFO will help in our progress towards profitability,” said Impact Coatings CEO Jonas Nilsson. “I would also like to recognize and thank Bengt Vernerson, who with great commitment during the past 18 months has delivered as acting CFO and contributed to our strong business development,” said Jonas Nilsson.
For more information contact:Jonas Nilsson, CEO+46 70 731 09 04
Peter Högfeldt, Director IR+46 708 87 44 34E-mail: investors@impactcoatings.com
Impact Coatings and Regional President North America, Dr. Robert Mamazza recently visited the Hydrogen Technology Conference & Expo in Houston, Texas. This yearly expo brings together the entire hydrogen value chain to focus on developing solutions and innovations for low-carbon hydrogen production, efficient storage and distribution as well as a variety of stationary and mobile applications.
On June 26th and 27th, more than 200+ exhibitors, 110+ speakers and over 3,500+ attendees came together to discuss, and view, the latest technologies and engineering solutions, advanced materials, manufacturing equipment, infrastructure, as well as test and evaluation tools for the hydrogen industry in Houston Texas, USA. We saw a complete hydrogen eco system on display.
The main conclusion after the event is that interest in PVD in the hydrogen industry is at an all-time high, and the value chain in North America is now maturing. We appear to be driving towards commercialization of various technologies in multiple links of the hydrogen supply chain. Electrolysis is still leading the way in North America, with Fuel Cells as a good runner-up, and 2025 is fully expected to be the year when things “turn on”.
PVD coatings in general draw a lot of attention as a promising clean, economical, and scalable production solution suitable for industrial manufacturing. With the hydrogen industry entering the commercialization stages, our complete coating service and equipment solutions are viewed as an exceptionally good market fit with great scalability – meaning we can deliver to match volume needs today, as well as future volume needs.
With many different players in the hydrogen value chain represented at the expo, the Impact Coatings’ team had diverse conversations with different sub-contractors, all looking for efficient solutions to be part of the production line of their components.
What is clear is that strategic partnerships and available expertise close at hand will be instrumental for most companies in need of coatings for their components. Most sub-contractors are very familiar with their own production and component specifications but have limited previous coating experience and lack in-depth coating expertise. This is where our expert teams in our Coating Service Centers support customers in accelerating time to market by offering technology verification and production start-up without the need for capital equipment investment. We can do all this as a service.
Understanding commercial capabilities is another important key topic from industry players in North America at this stage. Equipment investments are being evaluated for current volumes as well as future volume scenarios.
In these discussions, we have a big advantage as we are already delivering commercial volumes to North America. We know first-hand how our machines work in volume production as we operate our own coating systems in our coating service facilities.
Utilizing an Impact Coatings’ efficient INLINECOATER™ system with a compact factory footprint is a great value add for our production solution. Thanks to high throughput and small batches, the INLINECOATER™ offers remarkably good quality control with very low scrap rates. With the INLINECOATER™ systems’ automation-ready interface, it is easy to scale productivity from one to several coating systems in a growing production line. This adds the benefits of optimal cost control while scaling production volumes and offers redundancy for unexpected as well as planned equipment downtime on the factory floor.
Being ready for scale-up, with proven coating equipment and coating technology, is key as the hydrogen industry now moves away from focus on technology verification, and advances on production of commercial volumes. The buzz around the venue about the U.S. joint office of Energy and Transportation opening applications for $1.3 billion in funding for electrical vehicle charging and alternative fueling infrastructure is just one of many signs in this direction. Infrastructure has been one of the missing pieces to advance fuel cell applications and fuel cell electric vehicles in North America.
Likewise, prominent news from Canada worth highlighting is the announcement from Walmart, the number one retail chain in North America, that has rolled out their first hydrogen fueled truck with an impressive range of over 800 km. Another testament to that heavy-duty fuel cell applications are taking strides in catching up with electrolysis.
This means, most likely interest in heavy-duty fuel cell applications will increase from here out in North America. For Impact Coatings, the timing is perfect, since we released our Premium FC coating late last year, already in production in our Coating Service Center in China and Sweden.
Our next step will be to offer Coating Services on U.S. soil. If you have any questions about Impact Coatings, PVD, or our coatings solutions for electrolyzer and fuel cells, don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. Robert Mamazza, Regional President, North America.
Beginning of June, our Regional President, China, Mr. Yaowen Wang attended the yearly International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCVC) congress and exhibition in Shanghai. Here are some of his reflections of the market trends and the development within the hydrogen industry in China.
One of the most prominent reflections after attending FCVC this year is that the hydrogen industry in China is maturing very fast. China is the largest producer of hydrogen at about 33 million tons, almost 30% of the global total, mostly from fossil fuels according to IEA. However, there is a clear interest in shifting focus from hydrogen production based on fossil fuels towards green hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. This will most likely further increase deployment of Chinese FCEV, fuel cell electric vehicles, and the use of hydrogen in other harder-to-abate sectors.
The increased interest in fuel cells was unquestionable at the FCVC exhibition. In 2023 the Chinese market saw a year-to-year increase in FCEVs of about 70% according to CAAM – the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Actual numbers are still modest, but it’s clear that the steady increase is having a maturing effect on the supply chains where we see more expert suppliers emerging in China and showing up at the trade shows.
When it comes to electrolysis, the interest in green hydrogen production utilizing electrolysis is increasing in China, but we are still in the early stages and the growth is not moving as fast as for the fuel cell sector. However, to drive the total demand for FCEVs hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) are needed to make FCEVs a viable consumer option and should in turn continue to increase focus on production of green hydrogen. We fully expect to see escalated interest in electrolysis from the market over the coming years.
With these doubled anticipated ramp-up scenarios, the need for expertise to move to market according to increasing demand is a must for the industry players. So is the need for flexible and scalable production solutions with high availability – both geographically and financially.
For fuel cells, the ramp-up of production already seems to be entering a new gear, and several big, global companies are establishing production in China for fuel cell components, and in some instances for complete fuel cell systems. The focus is mainly on heavy-duty applications. For us, this means a great deal of interest in our Premium FC coating that was launched last year.
Our Premium FC coating is specifically developed for heavy-duty applications and can withstand potentials up to 1.6 volts without degradation and ion leakage which are the main factors for FC stack failure. The coating is extremely stable and can be applied in very thin layers for optimal production cost.
During FCVC, two of the most frequently asked questions were:“How well does the Premium FC coating measure up against carbon coatings?”“What is the difference between the Premium FC coating and carbon coatings?”
The main difference of course is that the Premium FC is not carbon based. In our opinion, the Premium FC coating is a top contender for heavy-duty applications and has the potential to outperform several carbon coatings. But we don’t want customers to take our word for it. We are currently supplying several customers with samples for testing in China.
The last big advantage is that we can supply Premium FC matched to one of our INLINECOATER™ systems or supply it as Coating as a Service in our Coating Service Center in Shanghai. This means very low entry barriers for our customers, with full CAPEX control and our experts close at hand to fine-tune properties to the customers’ technical specifications.
With our own coating systems, the INLINECOATER™ family, we are in full control of both coating development and matching hardware development. All models in our INLINECOATER™ family are compact and designed for integration in automated production flows. This makes them optimal for scaling production capacity one machine at a time. As a result, our product-to-market fit is unbeatable at this market stage where volumes are still modest but prognosed to increase rapidly during the coming years. A steep ramp-up scenario with optimal control of investments is something even our competitors admit they have trouble matching as well as we do.
With the INLINECOATER™ systems design focused on modularity and flexibility, our customers also maintain the ability to upgrade and adapt the coating processes to new market demands for years to come. We are already selling upgrade kits for our Premium FC coating.
Seeing the industry, domestic and foreign, come together on our home turf in Shanghai, discussing future needs, and tapping into the development in the industry, myself and my team are certain that we will have a very busy time supporting customers for many years to come. This is just the starting point for China and the world. If anything, this year’s FCVC has underscored that the time for hydrogen is now.
For more information about our flexible coating solutions for fuel cells and electrolyzers, reach out to yaowen.wang@impactcoatings.com
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