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SHANGHAI/SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) - Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) has supplied electric vehicle (EV) batteries to South Korea's Kia Corp
000270.KS , CATL said on Thursday, marking Kia's first use of non-Korean EV batteries for sales at home.
The South Korean automaker, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co
005380.KS , has chosen batteries from CATL for its electric Niro crossover SUV, aiming at expanding its range of battery suppliers, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday.
A CATL spokesperson confirmed the report without elaborating. Kia did not have an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.
CATL, whose clients include Tesla Inc TSLA.O and Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE , is the world's largest battery maker.
Industry tracker SNE Research says the company has a share of more than 35% of the booming global EV battery market. Analysts say the market is worth tens of billions of dollars a year.
For domestic EV sales, Hyundai Motor and Kia have previously used only batteries from two South Korean firms - LG Energy Solution Ltd 373220.KS and SK Innovation Co Ltd's 096770.KS SK On.
Those battery makers and domestic peer Samsung SDI Co Ltd
096770.KS together command more than a quarter of the global EV battery market, according to SNE Research.
(Reporting by Zhang Yan in Shanghai and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Bradley Perrett)
