POSCO Chemical Establishes Secondary Battery Core Material Production Base in Pohang

Swift Action... Groundbreaking of Secondary Battery Cathode Material Plant Following MOU Signed Last July

Producing Both Anode and Cathode, the Two Key Materials for Secondary Batteries in Pohang... The Only Domestic Company

Posco Chemical's artificial graphite anode material production plant located in the Blue Valley Industrial Complex, Donghae-myeon, Nam-gu, Pohang City. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Nine months after Gyeongbuk Province, Pohang City, and POSCO Chemical signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for new investment in a secondary battery cathode material factory in July last year, the agreement has led to an actual investment.

Breaking the usual practice where administrative procedures from signing the MOU to groundbreaking typically take about two years, POSCO Chemical, with full support from the province and Pohang City, held a groundbreaking ceremony on the 7th at the Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex site where the factory will be built, marking the start of this grand project.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by about 100 people, including Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province; Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang; Min Kyung-jun, CEO of POSCO Chemical; National Assembly members Kim Jung-jae and Kim Byung-wook; related organizations; and representatives of local residents.

POSCO Chemical, the only company in the global market supplying both cathode and anode materials for secondary batteries, plans to invest 600 billion KRW by 2024 to build a factory producing 60,000 tons annually (enough for 500,000 electric vehicles) of cathode materials on a 122,100㎡ (37,000 pyeong) site within the Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex.

The establishment of the production factory will also create about 230 new jobs.

Cathode materials are one of the four main battery materials and are a key component determining battery capacity, that is, how far a vehicle can travel on a single charge, accounting for 40% of the battery manufacturing cost.

The NCMA (Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese-Aluminum) cathode materials produced by POSCO Chemical have high performance, enabling driving distances of over 500 km on a single charge.

With the groundbreaking of the cathode material production factory following the completion of the first phase of the artificial graphite anode material production plant in December last year, POSCO Chemical will produce both key secondary battery materials in Pohang, strengthening the partnership between POSCO Chemical, Gyeongbuk Province, and Pohang City for the future.

POSCO Chemical’s artificial graphite anode material Pohang plant is a project investing a total of 250 billion KRW by 2023 on a 78,500㎡ (23,800 pyeong) site within the Blue Valley National Industrial Complex, establishing production facilities with an annual capacity of 16,000 tons.

Gyeongbuk Province and Pohang City expect that POSCO Chemical, preparing to leap from a basic material producer to a high value-added energy material company, will continue with large-scale follow-up investments in the secondary battery sector, including precursors, lithium, and recycling.

Recently, after controversy over POSCO Group’s plan to relocate its holding company to the Seoul metropolitan area, POSCO Group officially announced in February this year that it will move the holding company headquarters to Pohang by March next year and establish the main office of the Future Technology Research Institute in Pohang, thus resolving the conflict. It was reported that special effort was made for today’s event.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, “The steel city Pohang is rapidly transforming into a battery city in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We will provide full support within the scope permitted by law to companies that decide to invest in the region. We will also focus the provincial government’s capabilities on job creation to prevent young people from leaving for the metropolitan area by advancing actual investments as much as possible.”

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