Choi Jung-woo's 4 Years... Achieved Long-Awaited Holding Company Transition and Record-Breaking Performance

A New Challenge After 54 Years Since Founding
Investment in Secondary Battery Materials and More
Discovering New Growth Engines in Eco-Friendly and Infrastructure Sectors
Following Record-Breaking Performance Last Year
Second Quarter Sales Hit All-Time High

Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group, marked his 4th anniversary on the 27th. Over the past four years, POSCO has taken an unprecedented path. From being centered on a steel company, it embarked on a new challenge of establishing a holding company system for the first time in its 54-year history to secure future growth businesses. Investments in eco-friendly and infrastructure sectors such as secondary battery materials have become tangible results, establishing themselves as new growth engines for the group.

Among the four years of Chairman Choi’s tenure, the transition to a holding company in March this year stands out as the biggest milestone. With the launch of the group holding company POSCO Holdings, Chairman Choi stated, "Today marks the beginning of the second founding in POSCO’s history," adding, "The launch of POSCO Holdings will be the first step toward rebirth as a POSCO Group that continues to grow as a 100-year company, surpassing the myth of success we have achieved over the past half-century." The holding company laid the foundation for business companies to strengthen their competitiveness independently. This means that the group has transformed into a structure where it can be recognized for value in the market through various business areas, not confined to the image of a steel company.

Chairman Choi has designated ▲steel ▲secondary battery materials ▲lithium and nickel ▲hydrogen ▲energy ▲construction and infrastructure ▲food as the group’s seven core businesses and is focusing all efforts on discovering future growth engines. Investment in future growth businesses is recently regarded as Chairman Choi’s ‘insight’ amid the global supply chain crisis. He chose the lithium sector as the first investment destination after his inauguration. Lithium is a key material for secondary batteries and a raw material for which countries are fiercely competing to secure amid the global supply chain crisis caused by conflicts between the U.S. and China, with international distribution prices soaring.

In March this year, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of POSCO Group's Argentina brine lithium project, Choi Jeong-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group (center), is cheering. Photo by POSCO

Just one month after his inauguration, in August 2018, Chairman Choi decided to acquire the Ombre Muerto salt lake mining rights in Argentina, and in March this year, a commercial plant was launched locally. After completion in the first half of 2024, it will produce 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide annually, and through additional investments, production will expand to 100,000 tons by 2028. By 2030, POSCO Group plans to establish a production system of 610,000 tons of cathode materials, 320,000 tons of anode materials, 300,000 tons of lithium, and 220,000 tons of nickel.

In particular, POSCO Group has continued its record-breaking performance even after transitioning to a holding company this year. Last year, it achieved an all-time high with sales of 76.4 trillion KRW and operating profit of 9.2 trillion KRW, followed by sales of 21.338 trillion KRW and operating profit of 2.258 trillion KRW in the first quarter of this year. This trend continued into the second quarter as well. Sales in the second quarter reached 23 trillion KRW, and operating profit was 2.1 trillion KRW. Although operating profit slightly decreased, sales hit a record high. With continued strong performance, the annual sales forecast was revised upward from the previous 77.2 trillion KRW to 86 trillion KRW, an increase of 8.8 trillion KRW.

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