LS Group (006260.KS) is expanding cooperation with Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in telecommunications infrastructure, critical minerals and rare metals. The strategy is to open new markets and diversify supply chains, drawing on local infrastructure demand and abundant mineral resources.
LS Group said on the 16th that LS Cable & System and LS MnM signed a total of three memorandums of understanding with governments and research institutions in the three Central Asian countries, on the occasion of the Korea-Central Asia Summit and Business Summit involving five Central Asian nations.
Two days earlier, LS Cable & System signed an MOU with Turkmenistan's telecommunications ministry to build out local telecom infrastructure. The two sides have been discussing plans to establish an optical cable manufacturing facility and supply cables on a large scale since 2024. Once the project takes shape, the company plans to pursue local cable installation contracts in partnership with LS Marine Solution.
LS MnM is broadening cooperation in critical minerals and rare metals. Following an MOU signed three days earlier with Tajikistan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, the two sides agreed to jointly review the development of local mineral resources and potential investment.
On the 16th, LS MnM signed a multilateral MOU for long-term cooperation in rare metals with the National Center for Rare Metals at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and the Institute of Metallurgy and Ore Beneficiation at Satbayev University in Kazakhstan. The signatories plan to build a rare metals industry ecosystem between Korea and Kazakhstan and expand related cooperation.
"Central Asia is a market with significant growth potential, based on demand for upgrading telecom infrastructure and abundant mineral resources," an LS official said. "We will use our technological capabilities in power and telecom infrastructure as well as resources and materials to enter new markets and expand supply chain cooperation between Korea and Central Asia."
