POSCO FUTURE M

◈ POSCO Chemical to supply cathodes worth 1.8533 trillion won for three years starting in 2020
◈ The company is to accelerate entry into the EV battery materials market with high-nickel cathodes
◈ The close partnership will help secure a stable supply of essential materials and take the business to new heights

POSCO Chemical has signed a large-scale deal with LG Chem to supply cathodes, expediting entry into the EV battery market.

On January 21, POSCO Chemical announced that it had concluded a 1.8533 trillion contract with LG Chem for the supply of cathodes. The contract covers a period of three years from 2020 to 2022.

Cathodes are core materials that determine the overall capacity and output of batteries. POSCO Chemical is to provide high-nickel *NCM cathodes to LG Chem. The higher the ratio of nickel in the cathodes, the better the battery efficiency becomes, making them a popular choice of material in EV batteries.
* NCM cathodes: Composed of raw materials including nickel, cobalt, manganese

With the multi-year deal, POSCO Chemical has prepared solid footing to increase its market share and propel the business forward by supplying high-nickel cathodes at a massive scale. LG Chem, for its part, can secure a stable supply of core battery materials ahead of the skyrocketing growth of the electric car market. The two companies have cooperated closely in the sector since POSCO Chemical started its energy materials business back in 2011.

POSCO Chemical produces NCM cathodes with a maximized battery output and highly stable surface based on exclusive materials technology. Another advantage is that the POSCO Group has entered the lithium business, allowing for co-production of the essential raw materials for cathodes.

POSCO Chemical is working hard to build a stable production system for its cathodes. The company is planning on building a cathode production plant dedicated to EV batteries in phases with an annual production capacity of 90,000 tons on a 165,203㎡site, the size of 20 soccer fields. Located in the Yulchon industrial complex in Gwangyang, the plant will be made into a smart factory with fully automated processes for production and quality control. Equipped with an integrated monitoring system, the plant will strengthen POSCO Chemical’s competitiveness in manufacturing and product quality.

A POSCO Chemical representative said, “The large-scale deal with LG Chem is a milestone achievement in the energy materials business, which we are undertaking at the POSCO Group level. Energy materials are a future growth engine for POSCO Chemical in which we will continue investing to expand our production capacity and increase our partnerships with battery producers in Korea and abroad to make POSCO Chemical a top-tier player in the world’s energy materials market.”

POSCO Chemical plans to develop next-generation materials through an R&D center for secondary battery materials and establish a 76,000-ton production system for natural graphite anodes by 2022, while entering the artificial graphite anode industry. With aggressive investment in the energy materials business, the company seeks to become a world leader in chemicals and energy materials.

[Photos]
POSCO Chemical completes phase 1 construction of the cathode plant: POSCO Chemical executives in front of a cathode plant in Gwangyang with an annual output of 6,000 tons as the phase 1 construction is completed.
(From the seventh person on left CEO Min Kyung-zoon, President of the Energy Materials Division Kim Joon-hyung, Director of the Anode Materials Division Jung Dae-heon)
A view of POSCO Chemical’s Gwangyang cathode plant: Gwangyang cathode plant that POSCO Chemical is building in Gwangyang.