[Photo provided by Posco Chemical Co.]

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Posco Chemical Co. under South Korean steel giant Posco will up cathode materials output by 10-fold to 400,000 tons by 2030 through extensive production network across the globe to become the world’s No. 1 supplier of materials to behind rechargeable batteries and EVs.

The refractory and secondary battery materials maker targets to expand its output from current 40,000 tons to 270,000 tons by 2025 – 160,000 tons at home and 110,000 tons abroad – and then to 400,000 tons by 2030, according to its latest outline.

The company is reviewing to add a new factory in Europe first with an investment of 150 billion won ($134.4 million) after its cash hoard has been bolstered by 1 trillion won through new share issue in January.

“To select appropriate factory site, we’ve formed a taskforce team to compare and analyze construction environment, advantages and economic feasibility of each candidate country,” Jung Dae-hun, head of energy materials business division at Posco Chemical, told reporters during a press briefing last week at the Gwangyang factory.

“Detailed plan for overseas investment will be disclosed within the year,” he added.

It also is mulling to increase capacity in China. Posco Group built its first overseas cathode materials plant with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province of China in 2019.

Another option is to build a factory in the United States after it signed a cathode and anode materials supply contract with U.S.-based Ultium Cells LLC, a joint-venture between global auto giant General Motors (GM) and Korea’s battery maker LG Energy Solution.

[Photo provided by Posco Chemical Co.]

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The car and battery makers currently are building the first battery manufacturing line in Ohio and may add the second line in Tennessee.

Once it decides where to add its overseas production base, Posco Chemical plans to apply its proprietary smart factory system applied to its new factory in Gwangyang that mainly churns out high-nickel NCMA cathodes that can enhance battery stability and output at lower costs.

The first and second stage lines at the Gwangyang factory are capable of producing 30,000 tons of cathode materials per year, and the factory will be able to churn out a total 90,000 tons once the third and fourth-stage lines are added by 2023.

Current leaders in the global cathode materials market are Belgium’s Umicore and Japanese names Sumitomo and Nichia, but no one dominates a market share of above 10 percent.

“We’ll fast expand production capacity to become the world’s No. 1 with a 20 percent share by 2030,” said Jung.

Posco Chemical shares on Monday fell 1.76 percent to close at 167,000 won in Seoul trading.

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