Kwon Oh-jun "POSCO's Secondary Battery Business Settled Thanks to Technology and Consistent Investment by Three Successive Chairmen"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Former POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-jeon revealed that the reason POSCO successfully established itself in the secondary battery (electric vehicle battery) materials business, one of its new growth engines, is thanks to POSCO's technological prowess and the consistent investment commitment of three successive chairmen. POSCO is engaged in the production of cathode and anode materials as well as the lithium business, a key raw material. Initially, POSCO planned to invest in Bolivia for this new business, but the plan fell through, and cooperation with Chile also did not materialize, leading to a decision to jointly pursue a salt lake lithium project in Argentina after various twists and turns.

At the time, the lithium reserves were known to be sufficient for 20 years of production, but detailed exploration confirmed that production could continue for over 50 years. With the rise of the mobility industry, investment in electric vehicle battery materials is regarded as the most successful new business POSCO has undertaken.

Former POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-jeon, in his book published last April titled “Seeing the World Through Iron - The Civilizational Trajectory of Iron”, stated, “The biggest reason we succeeded in commercializing the project in Argentina was the excellence of POSCO’s technology,” sharing behind-the-scenes insights into the electric vehicle battery materials business.

Around the year 2000, POSCO underwent restructuring and discontinued many new businesses, but it actually strengthened investment in promising new ventures. A representative example is the cathode and anode materials sectors for secondary batteries. The cathode materials business also involves developing lithium, a core material. POSCO also embarked on developing brine, the raw material for lithium chemicals. At that time, former Chairman Kwon, who was the head of POSCO’s affiliated research institute, RIST, oversaw lithium technology development. POSCO completed the first phase of technology development within seven months and held a briefing session in Bolivia to start the first joint research project, but it was soon halted.

Former Chairman Kwon recalled, “Interest in lithium began to rise domestically from 2011, and POSCO took this opportunity to develop lithium carbonate extraction technology. Initially, we decided to cooperate with Bolivia to utilize the resources of the Uyuni salt flat, entrusting technology development to RIST, a POSCO-affiliated institute.”

Regarding this, Kwon explained, “The main reason for the failure was Bolivia’s unilateral and unreasonable demands. Subsequently, POSCO shifted its resource cooperation target to Chile, but Chile, the world’s largest lithium raw material producer, showed little interest in a newcomer like POSCO, leading us to collaborate with Argentina instead.”

He further described, “Argentina has higher rainfall than Chile, which prolongs extraction time and increases manufacturing costs, making it less competitive and hindering the activation of the lithium business. However, by applying POSCO’s technology, these issues could be resolved, allowing the business to take root.”

He added, “With the rapid spread of electric vehicles and the activation of the mobility market, demand for secondary batteries is increasing rapidly, making this field a highly promising new revenue source for POSCO. The reason POSCO has been able to nurture the promising secondary battery materials business as a core new business is due to consistent investment and technology development under a unified goal across three chairmen over ten years.”

Meanwhile, POSCO is currently expanding the secondary battery materials business as a core group business, supported by Chairman Choi Jeong-woo’s commitment to new business investment. Centered on POSCO Chemical, the company is actively investing in cathode and anode materials businesses with the goal of achieving a 20% global market share and sales of 17 trillion won by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.