poscofuturem

- Signs investment letter of intent on the 3rd… Pursues investment cooperation with Hyundai Motor Group for its Vietnam synthetic graphite anode material business
- Hyundai Motor Group secures priority purchase rights for synthetic graphite anode materials
- Expected to build a stable battery materials supply chain… Will also cooperate on early-stage development and quality evaluation of synthetic graphite anode materials

POSCO Future M has agreed to discuss investment and cooperation plans with Hyundai Motor Group for its synthetic graphite anode material business in Vietnam.

POSCO Future M signed an investment letter of intent (LOI) with Hyundai Motor Group on the 3rd to cooperate on the Vietnam business. Under the LOI, Hyundai Motor Group will consider a KRW 100 billion equity investment in the business POSCO Future M is pursuing and will seek to secure priority purchase rights for synthetic graphite anode materials.
 
In April last year, POSCO Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Mutual Cooperation in Steel and Secondary Battery Fields with Hyundai Motor Group to secure an early lead in the future mobility materials market, and has continued to explore ways to cooperate to respond to changes in the global trade environment and shifts in the industrial paradigm.
 
The LOI is expected to give POSCO Future M a solid foundation for building global production facilities and to accelerate construction, while Hyundai Motor Group is expected to use its priority purchase rights to build a stable battery materials supply chain in global markets. The two companies also plan to cooperate on early-stage development and quality evaluation of synthetic graphite anode materials that meet EV performance requirements.
 
Synthetic graphite anode materials are well suited to improving batteries’ fast-charging performance and lifespan. Demand for them has been rising steadily as EV performance continues to advance. They are also drawing attention as a key material whose supply chain needs diversifying, as the introduction of PFE (prohibited foreign entity) requirements in the US, the announcement of the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) in Europe, and other developments accelerate the restructuring of global supply chains.

Against this backdrop, POSCO Future M broke ground this year on a synthetic graphite anode material plant in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, investing approximately KRW 357 billion. It is targeting mass production in 2028, has finalized customer order contracts for the Phase 1 investment, and is now pursuing the Phase 2 investment.

POSCO Future M is working to internalize its supply chain across the entire process for natural and synthetic graphite anode materials, from raw materials and intermediate materials to product manufacturing, and is drawing attention as an alternative for global automakers and battery makers looking to diversify their supply chains. In July last year, it signed a natural graphite anode material supply contract with a major Japanese battery maker. In October that year and March this year, it signed a KRW 671 billion natural graphite anode material supply contract and an approximately KRW 1.0149 trillion synthetic graphite anode material supply contract, respectively, with a global automaker.

In July, POSCO Group announced its future growth strategy, outlining a vision to build a Triple-Core system and become a “national supplier of critical resources.” The system spans industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (such as lithium, cathode and anode materials, and rare earths), and energy resources (LNG and renewable energy).

As the only company in Korea that supplies both cathode and anode materials, POSCO Future M plans to enhance its business competitiveness based on supply chain solutions and technology that can navigate trade regulations in each country, and further solidify its position as a core strategic resources company within the group.