POSCO Group Chairman Chang In-hwa has personally unveiled a new growth strategy and investment plan to lead the group's future, adding weight to expectations that he will seek reappointment. Chang's term runs through March 2027, and this year is effectively seen as his last chance to build a track record for reappointment.
At POSCO Group's "CEO Investor Day," held Tuesday at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul's Yeouido, Chang presented a vision to sustain future growth by building a "Triple-Core" system centered on industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (such as lithium), and energy resources. The vision centers on establishing a new growth strategy built on three pillars — steel, lithium, and energy — and investing approximately 17 trillion won over the next three years.
"Now, when external uncertainties are intensifying due to supply chain instability and the accelerating low-carbon transition, is precisely the time to create new growth opportunities through bold innovation of our business portfolio," Chang said. "We will lead the strengthening of the supply chain by expanding our business domain into resources, following steel and materials."
Chang took office in March 2024 and has been leading POSCO Group since. During this period, geopolitical uncertainties have grown, including the launch of the second Donald Trump administration and deepening global tariff barriers, while internal challenges such as safety accidents and labor-management conflicts have persisted. Chang's reappointment hinges on his ability to restore profitability in the core steel business amid such an environment, while quickly translating the Triple-Core strategy spanning materials and energy into earnings. If reappointed, Chang would take the helm of POSCO Group for another three years.
Under the new growth strategy, POSCO Group will invest 7.6 trillion won to strengthen industrial resource capabilities such as steel, 4.1 trillion won to secure strategic resources such as lithium, and 3.7 trillion won to expand value chains such as liquefied natural gas (LNG). The remaining 1.3 trillion won will be used to commercialize physical artificial intelligence (AI) to drive production innovation.
Of particular note is that POSCO has presented strategic resources, led by lithium, as a new growth pillar. The Argentine salt lake that POSCO Group acquired in 2018 began full-scale commercial production this year and successfully turned to an operating profit in March. Having recently obtained approval under the Argentine government's large-scale investment incentive program (RIGI), the company plans to accelerate investment in the third and fourth phases of its brine lithium project.
In the mineral lithium sector, POSCO has secured more than 187,000 tons of lithium concentrate annually through a joint venture agreement with Australia's Mineral Resources. POSCO has set a goal of completing a lithium production system of 173,000 tons per year by 2033, centered on Argentina and Australia, establishing itself as a global top-five lithium company, and achieving 1.8 trillion won in operating profit from the lithium business alone by 2035. The company also plans to develop rare earths, rare gases, and specialty gases as strategic resources to serve as new growth engines.
In its core steel business, POSCO will begin full-scale high-growth overseas investment to overcome stagnation in domestic growth. The strategy focuses on expanding production capacity to 10 million tons by 2031 in promising markets such as India, the United States, and Indonesia, and creating a virtuous cycle in which profits secured through this are reinvested in domestic low-carbon transition. In India, POSCO is responding to local demand through a joint-venture steel mill with JSW, the country's largest steelmaker; in the United States, through an electric arc furnace plant in Louisiana with Hyundai Motor Group; and in Indonesia, it is pursuing the construction of a second steel mill.
In the energy sector, POSCO will push forward its LNG supply chain expansion strategy without setbacks and focus on expanding its trading scale by preemptively responding to the recent increase in global cargo volume. Its renewable energy business will accelerate its entry into domestic offshore wind and overseas solar markets. In solar in particular, the company plans to enter local supply chains centered on strategic countries such as North America and expand its business by linking it to battery energy storage systems (BESS) and beyond.
Through such business restructuring, POSCO Group has also presented a specific goal of achieving combined revenue of 187 trillion won and operating profit of 13.1 trillion won by 2035, a decade from now.
Meanwhile, POSCO Group is also moving to maximize corporate value and enhance shareholder value. To resolve the undervaluation of holding companies, POSCO Holdings (005490.KS), the group's holding company, plans to strategically liquidate its stakes in listed subsidiaries to optimize them to around the 50% level. The funds secured through this will be concentrated in strategic resource investment projects directly operated by POSCO Holdings, and an amount equivalent to 10% of the sale proceeds will be used for share buybacks and cancellations.
