POSCO "No Consideration of Shipping Company Acquisition... M&A if Needed for Hydrogen and Secondary Battery Materials"

POSCO is conducting exploration at a lithium salt lake in Argentina.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] POSCO identified hydrogen business and secondary battery materials business as new growth areas and announced on the 28th that it plans to mainly focus on these sectors when considering mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of other companies. Regarding the previous day's media report stating that the Korea Development Bank is pushing for the sale of HMM to POSCO, the company stated, "We have neither received any proposal nor internally reviewed it."

During a conference call held that day, the company analyzed last year's performance and disclosed future business plans. Kim Seung-jun, head of POSCO's Investment Strategy Office, said, "We will focus M&A efforts on hydrogen and secondary battery materials, which are identified as new growth areas at the group level, but we are also open to M&A possibilities in other fields. For the time being, we will proceed with venture investments centered on existing businesses."

According to the detailed execution strategy announced by the company that day, there is a plan to develop into a 'global top-tier' company in secondary battery materials such as lithium. For cathode and anode materials, production was at the mid-40,000-ton level last year, and the company plans to increase this approximately threefold by 2023. Meanwhile, lithium, which is still in the commercialization verification stage, is planned to be increased to about 68,000 tons during the same period.

They also plan to expand the raw material value chain for lithium, nickel, graphite, and other materials to enhance competitiveness. These are basic materials used to manufacture batteries, a core component, as electric vehicle demand is expected to surge in the future.

In the hydrogen sector, the company has set the first phase as this year and next year, aiming to expand the operating rate of existing by-product hydrogen facilities to produce an additional 2,000 tons. In the second phase, from 2023 to 2025, they plan to invest in hydrogen extraction facilities to establish an annual production system of 70,000 tons. According to the mid- to long-term plan, by 2040, they will have an annual production system of 2 million tons.

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