South Korea’s Posco Group has announced its intent to invest US$93B for growth in core businesses such as steel, battery materials, and hydrogen by 2030, with 60% reserved for domestic use.
Posco Group chairman, Choi Jeong-woo, said “With the investment, (the group) will secure future technologies, stay ahead in the growing industries, and work toward a sustainable future through green materials.”
The Korea Herald reported that the announcement was made during the companies’ 50th anniversary of its first steel mill, a nod to the near US%56B that will be invested locally and meant to help create an estimated 330,000 jobs.
The group said it will invest intensively to advance the group’s 2050 carbon neutral goal. In 2020, POSCO announced its plan to become net-zero by 2050, including a 10% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Posco Holdings Inc., the group’s steelmaking unit, has already begun to make moves. It aims to fire up a new electric arc furnace in late 2025, with a production capacity of 2.5M metric tonnes per year of crude steel according to S&P Global.
This move is meant to supply the new and future electric arc furnaces, with aims to have 500,000 metric tonnes per year of scrap supply capacity in place by 2025.
The group has been diversifying into new businesses, including minerals used in electric vehicle batteries. Under the new investment plan, Posco said it will consolidate its leadership in the steel manufacturing business while seeking aggressive expansion of its battery materials and hydrogen businesses.
In April 2023, the company announced plans to spend approximately US$3.4B over the next 10 years at Gwangyang to build an industrial complex that will include battery materials and hydrogen.
More immediately, its joint venture as Posco Pilbara Lithium Solution Co. Ltd. with Australia’s Pilbara Minerals Ltd. is expected to start its 43,000tpa lithium hydroxide monohydrate plant at Gwangyang in late 2023.
For hydrogen, Oman awarded a project in June to manufacture 220,000tpa of green hydrogen and 1.2M metric tonnes of green ammonia per year to a consortium that included both Posco and France’s Engie SA.
Last month, General Motors Co and affiliate POSCO Future M said they will expand the production capacity at their battery materials facility in Canada, taking their estimated total investment in the plant to over US$1B. Choi said, “Posco Group will continue to nurture its major businesses, involving steel, secondary battery materials and hydrogen, to step up as a global business leader that can contribute to the sustainable future of humanity.”
