Choi Jung-woo and Heo Tae-soo Unite for New Businesses in Mobility and Hydrogen (Comprehensive)

POSCO-GS Group Exchange Meeting... Seeking Cooperation Through Annual Exchanges
Focusing on Mobility, Hydrogen, and Secondary Battery Materials Sectors

On the afternoon of the 7th, at the GS Tower in Gangnam-gu, Choi Jeong-woo, Chairman of the POSCO Group (left), and Heo Tae-soo, Chairman of the GS Group, are shaking hands at the 'POSCO-GS Group Exchange Meeting.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group, and Heo Tae-soo, Chairman of GS Group, have joined forces to collaborate on new businesses such as mobility and hydrogen. POSCO Group and GS Group have established an 'exchange meeting' where executives and working-level staff regularly communicate to build a foundation for future growth.

On the afternoon of the 7th, POSCO Group and GS Group held the 'POSCO-GS Group Exchange Meeting' at GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong, with top management from both sides attending. They discussed cooperation plans for key new businesses such as secondary battery recycling, new mobility, and hydrogen projects.

Attending the exchange meeting were POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jung-woo, head of POSCO Global Infrastructure Division, head of New Growth Division, head of Industrial Gas Hydrogen Business Division, head of Management Support Headquarters, CEO of POSCO Energy, and head of POSCO International Food Materials Division. From GS Group, Chairman Heo Tae-soo, GS Corporation President Hong Soon-ki, Finance Team Leader (President), Future Business Team Leader (Executive Director), GS Energy President Heo Yong-soo, and GS Caltex Strategic Planning Office Head (Executive Director) participated.

Chairman Choi said, "With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and carbon neutrality issues, large-scale investments and business structure reforms have become constants in corporate management. This exchange meeting is meaningful as it establishes a framework for group-level cooperation across various business fields, including the rapidly growing eco-friendly markets such as hydrogen and batteries. We hope that the collaboration between the two groups will bear fruit at the national level."

Chairman Heo also stated, "If the two companies cooperate based on their capabilities, assets, and solid existing businesses, new synergies can be created. In particular, I hope this will be an opportunity to jointly discover and grow future businesses centered on eco-friendliness integrated with digital technology, contributing to value creation for customers and society."

First, POSCO Group and GS Group discussed cooperation in the fields of 'secondary battery recycling and new mobility.' In May, POSCO established 'POSCO HY Clean Metal' in a joint venture with Huayou Cobalt, promoting a secondary battery recycling business that uses process scrap generated during secondary battery manufacturing as the main raw material.

By 2029, the amount of waste batteries is expected to exceed the amount of process scrap generated during secondary battery manufacturing. As the importance of waste battery collection grows, POSCO Group plans to establish a joint venture (JV) for supplying raw materials for secondary battery recycling by utilizing GS Group’s automobile maintenance, refueling, and global networks. Furthermore, based on technology that GS Energy is investing in to diagnose and evaluate the condition of electric vehicle batteries, the cooperation scope will be expanded to the BaaS (Battery as a Service) business, which includes services such as battery rental/exchange by assessing whether waste batteries can be repaired, reused, or recycled.

In the 'hydrogen business' sector, the plan is to strengthen competitiveness and contribute to the activation of the domestic hydrogen economy through cooperation across the entire value chain?from blue and green hydrogen production to storage, transportation, and utilization?by jointly participating in overseas projects and discovering new demand sources. To this end, the head of POSCO’s Industrial Gas Hydrogen Business Division and the head of GS Energy’s Energy Resources Business Division signed a memorandum of understanding for hydrogen business cooperation on behalf of their respective groups.

Additionally, in the 'eco-friendly bio business' sector, POSCO International will collaborate with GS Caltex by utilizing POSCO International’s palm plantations and processing facilities along with GS Caltex’s biofuel production technology and sales infrastructure to expand the palm refined oil business and develop next-generation biofuels such as bio-aviation fuel based on renewable raw materials.

Moreover, the two groups discussed cooperation plans in a wide range of areas, including jointly discovering promising companies in the secondary battery and hydrogen sectors using their venture investment infrastructure and promoting carbon reduction activities at major business sites as part of ESG management.

Going forward, POSCO Group and GS Group plan to ensure tangible results through working-level consultations based on the agreements made by their management teams.

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