en.Wedoany.com Reported - POSCO Group unveiled its business expansion strategy at a CEO Investor Day held on July 2 at the Conrad Seoul Hotel on Yeouido, Seoul. Group Chairman Chang In-hwa stated that in the face of supply chain instability and accelerated low-carbon transition, innovative business portfolios are needed to create new growth opportunities.

At a subsequent Investor Day held on September 2, POSCO Group formally presented its vision to expand operations into three core areas: industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (lithium, cathode and anode materials, rare earth elements, etc.), and energy resources (liquefied natural gas, renewable energy), aiming to become a "national core resource supplier." The lithium business, as a key strategic resource, has drawn investor attention due to its recent performance and proven growth potential. The group plans to establish a lithium production system with an annual capacity of 173,000 tons by 2033, striving to rank among the global top five, and generate over 1.8 trillion won (approximately $1.2 billion) in operating profit from the lithium business by 2035.

In terms of brine lithium, POSCO Argentina achieved an operating surplus in March and received approval for the local government's large-scale investment incentive system (RIGI), which is expected to further solidify its profit structure. The group plans to advance early investments in the third and fourth phases of brine lithium production, targeting a 100,000-ton production system by 2033. For the steel business, POSCO Group will target high-profit growth markets such as India, the United States, and Indonesia, expanding capacity to 10 million tons by 2031 and reinvesting the profits into domestic low-carbon transition. In the energy resources sector, liquefied natural gas (LNG) will expand trading volumes to meet global trade growth, with expansion strategies across the value chain also progressing simultaneously. The renewable energy business will take a leading role in national energy security by entering the domestic offshore wind and overseas solar markets.

In new business areas, POSCO Group plans to commercialize physical artificial intelligence (AI) for the process industry, leveraging facility automation and intelligence experience accumulated in the steel sector along with large-scale on-site data. To support the business portfolio transformation, the group plans to invest a total of 16.7 trillion won from this year through 2028. To address the holding company discount issue, POSCO Holdings will optimize its stake in listed subsidiaries to around 50%, freeing up financial resources to concentrate on the strategic resource investment business directly operated by the holding company. Additionally, the group plans to use 10% of the proceeds from sales to purchase and cancel treasury shares of POSCO Holdings, thereby enhancing shareholder value. Following the Seoul event, POSCO Group will also hold CEO Investor Days in Singapore and Hong Kong on July 6 and July 8, respectively, to strengthen communication with investors.