POSCO said on the 26th that it took part in the 2025 Drone·Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Expo held this month at KINTEX in Goyang and unveiled its future-type vertiport technology.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a next-generation advanced transportation system that safely and conveniently transports people and cargo in urban environments using electric, low-noise aircraft and vertical takeoff and landing pads. Vertiport is a compound word of "vertical," meaning vertical, and "port," meaning terminal, and refers to a facility where UAM aircraft take off and land vertically.
POSCO operated a Steel Vertiport exhibition booth at the expo site and showcased the concept and model of the vertiport, a core element of future urban air infrastructure. POSCO exhibited a full-scale sample of its recently developed Steel Takeoff and Landing Deck System.
UAM is a field with high growth potential. According to U.S. investment bank (IB) Morgan Stanley, the global UAM-related market is expected to grow from about $8 billion in 2020 to $9.042 trillion by 2050.
Vertiport technology is core infrastructure for the safe takeoff and landing of aircraft. It must be designed with high durability and stability to withstand aircraft loads. POSCO began developing steel materials and steel structure technologies in 2023 with the goal of realizing a vertiport that is light and strong while still price-competitive.
The Steel Vertiport developed this time achieves weight reduction with a thin thickness while maintaining high rigidity and durability. It also improved construction efficiency and usability by applying a prefab method that partitions the vertiport into modules, manufactures them in a factory, and assembles them on site.
During the expo, at the 4th UAM Safety and Certification Technology Series Seminar, POSCO presented research results from the national research and development (R&D) project titled Development of Design and Construction Technology for Mobile Modular Vertiports. It proposed structural and functional performance requirements for vertiports and practical technical solutions, and, based on the development results, emphasized the potential of modular vertiports with efficiency.
At the open seminar Make vertiports simply and quickly—Steel takeoff and landing deck, it introduced POSCO's original ideas and vertiport vision to the general public.
A POSCO official said, "Continuous research and development and national investment are needed to build UAM's operating system and develop innovative infrastructure," adding, "POSCO will continue to play a leading role in the field of future urban air infrastructure."