POSCO Group unveiled a blueprint for business restructuring aimed at future growth. The company plans to reorganize its business portfolio around resources, expanding beyond steel, its traditional core business, to include lithium and energy.
According to POSCO on the 2nd, the company held its CEO Investor Day that day. CEO Investor Day is a forum where a company invites investors, analysts and other market participants to share business performance and mid- to long-term strategies. At the event, POSCO said it aims to establish a "Triple-core" system centered on industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (lithium, anode and cathode materials, rare earths and others), and energy resources (LNG and renewable energy), positioning itself as a "national key resource supplier." It also set specific goals of reaching 187 trillion won in combined sales and 13.1 trillion won in operating profit by 2035.
Chairman Chang In-hwa said, "Now, when external uncertainty is deepening due to supply chain instability and the accelerating transition to low carbon, is the time to create new growth opportunities through bold innovation in our business portfolio." He added, "We will expand our business into resources after steel and materials, and lead the way in strengthening national industrial security and supply chains." POSCO also plans to develop rare earths, a key mineral for the electric vehicle and robotics industries, as well as rare and specialty gases essential to advanced industries, as strategic resources.
Lithium is at the center of POSCO's business portfolio restructuring. The company plans to build an annual production system for 173,000 tons of lithium by 2033, becoming a global top-five lithium company, and to generate more than 180 billion won in operating profit from its lithium business by 2035. In brine lithium, POSCO Argentina S.A.U. turned profitable in March. In hard-rock lithium, the company secured a foundation for expanding its refining business through a joint venture agreement with Australia's Mineral Resources and secured more than 187,000 tons of lithium concentrate annually.
Its traditional core business, steel, will focus on expanding competitiveness in global markets. The company plans to expand production capacity to 10 million tons by 2031 in promising markets such as India, the United States and Indonesia, where high profitability and growth potential are expected. It also aims to create a virtuous cycle in which the profits it secures are reinvested in domestic low-carbon transition efforts.
Energy resources will focus on securing both profitability and sustainability. For LNG, the company will push ahead with expansion strategies across the value chain without disruption, expand trading volume in anticipation of the recent rise in global shipping volumes, and accelerate its entry into domestic offshore wind and overseas solar power markets. Based on its experience in automation and intelligence in steel facilities, as well as vast amounts of on-site data, POSCO also plans to commercialize physical AI for process industries.
To strengthen execution of the business portfolio transition, POSCO Group plans to invest 1.67 trillion won in future growth by 2028.
Kim Se-hyung, fax123@sportschosun.com
