POSCO Group is restructuring its business portfolio around resources. The plan is to shift to a resource-centered "triple-core" system, covering industrial resources such as steel; strategic resources such as lithium and rare earths; and energy resources such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and renewables.
POSCO Group on the 2nd held "CEO Investor Day," a briefing for institutional investors, and laid out a vision to build a "triple-core" system of industrial resources (steel); strategic resources (lithium, cathode and anode materials, rare earths); and energy resources (LNG, renewables). To shift its business portfolio, it said it will invest 16.7 trillion won over three years through 2028.
POSCO Group Chairman Chang In-hwa said at the event, "Following steel and materials, we will expand the scope of our business into resources to lead the strengthening of national industrial security and supply chains." Chang said, "Now, as external uncertainty deepens due to supply chain instability and an accelerating low-carbon transition, is precisely the time to create new growth opportunities through bold innovation of our business portfolio."
POSCO Group presented consolidated targets for 2035, 10 years from now, of 187 trillion won in revenue and 13.1 trillion won in operating profit.
POSCO Group is putting particular emphasis on strategic resources. The representative strategic resource is lithium. POSCO Group said it will complete a system to produce 173,000 tons of lithium annually by 2033. Through this, it aims to rank in the global top 5 in lithium and generate at least 1.8 trillion won in operating profit from the lithium business in 2035.
The company said its lithium business is beginning to show tangible results. POSCO Argentina, which handles brine lithium, turned to an operating profit in March. It also recently received approval from the Argentine government for the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI). POSCO Group is targeting production of 100,000 tons of brine lithium in 2033. In ore-based lithium, it signed a joint venture agreement with Australia's Mineral Resources, laying the groundwork for expanding its refining business.
POSCO Group also plans to foster rare earths, key minerals for the electric vehicle and robotics industries, and rare and specialty gases, essential materials for advanced industries, as strategic resources.
POSCO Group said it will accelerate overseas investment to overcome growth stagnation caused by declining domestic steel demand. In promising markets such as India, the United States and Indonesia, it plans to expand production capacity to 10 million tons by 2031. It said it will create a virtuous cycle by reinvesting the revenue secured there into Korea's low-carbon transition and other areas.
For its LNG business, an energy resource, POSCO Group said it will pursue an expansion strategy across each segment of the value chain and expand the scale of trading in response to the recent trend of increasing global cargo volumes. It said it will also move in earnest into domestic offshore wind and overseas solar markets in its renewables business.
Separately from its resources business, POSCO Group said that in new businesses it will push to commercialize physical AI for process industries, based on its accumulated experience in facility automation and intelligence in steel and its vast troves of on-site data.
POSCO Holdings, the POSCO Group holding company, said it will reduce its equity stakes in its listed subsidiaries (POSCO International, POSCO FUTURE M, POSCO DX) to around 50% to resolve the holding company discount (undervaluation). It plans to invest funds secured through equity sales into strategic resource investment projects directly operated by POSCO Holdings.
POSCO Holdings also plans to buy back and cancel its own shares. It said it will use an amount equivalent to 10% of the proceeds from selling stakes in listed subsidiaries for share buybacks and cancellations to enhance shareholder value.
POSCO Group plans to hold CEO Investor Day in Singapore on the 6th and in Hong Kong on the 8th.