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| Top executives of POSCO Holdings attend a meeting to fortify future growth strategies, Nov. 7, 2022. Korea Times file |
By Lee Kyung-min
POSCO Holdings said, Friday, that it will invest 59.1 billion won ($47.8 million) with its subsidiary POSCO Silicon Solution to build silicon anode production facilities, in a move to fortify its secondary battery materials business.
Construction of the plant, with an annual production capacity of 450 tons, will begin in June in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. It will be completed in the first half of 2024.
Silicon anode batteries are an extension of widely used lithium-ion batteries. The next-generation material boasts enhanced performance and energy efficiency. An increasing number of local and global battery manufacturers are rushing to develop the silicon-based anode material, with the market expected to grow 34 percent every year by 2030, POSCO Holdings said.
The next-generation material takes up less than 5 percent of a rechargeable battery's content at present, but the figure is expected to double to over 10 percent by 2025 and to over 25 percent by 2030.
The investment is the latest effort by the local steel titan to strengthen its anode material production capacity.
POSCO Holdings acquired a 100-percent stake in Tera Technos, a Daejeon-based battery materials manufacturer, for $36.6 million, in July last year. The new affiliate plans to build a plant that has a production capacity of 25,000 tons by 2030.
Meanwhile, POSCO Holdings said its operating profit on a consolidated basis came to 4.9 trillion won last year, down 46.7 percent from 2021.
Sales climbed to 84.8 trillion won, up 11.1 percent, but net income fell 50 percent to 3.6 trillion won.
Behind the poorer-than-expected performance was a drop in product prices brought on by softening global steel demand that began in the second half of last year, compounded further by the flooding of its steel mill in Pohang.
"About 1.3 trillion won in losses last year were due to operating losses from the flood and subsequent shutdown of steel mills, as well as one-off spending increases," a POSCO Holdings official said.
A logistics disruption sparked by unionized truckers' walkout as well as softening global steel demand and the flood were among other factors that contributed to an operating loss of 370 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year.
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