Producer
POSCO Holdings
POSCO Holdings (KRX: 005490, NYSE: PKX; HQ Pohang, South Korea; ~$60B revenue) is a global steel conglomerate that has built one of the few non-Chinese large-scale lithium hydroxide conversion chains. POSCO's lithium hydroxide strategy centers on POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution (PPLS) — an 82:18 JV with Pilbara Minerals that completed South Korea's first dedicated LiOH plant at Gwangyang (Yulchon Industrial Complex, South Jeolla Province) in 2024, with 43,000 tonnes/year capacity. The plant imports spodumene from Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora Mine (WA) and converts via sulfuric acid pressure leach. South Korea's KORUS FTA status means POSCO-processed LiOH qualifies as FTA-country material under IRA FEOC rules — making it commercially valuable for US EV supply chains. POSCO's LiOH is targeted at LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On. Source: POSCO newsroom 2024; Pilbara Minerals ASX releases.
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3 inputs POSCO Holdings supplies
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Steel Products
65%Battery Materials (POSCO Chemical)
15%Lithium Hydroxide Conversion
8%Energy, Construction & Other
12%
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Did you know2024
POSCO Holdings is the world's 6th-largest steelmaker (construction and manufacturing supply chain) and simultaneously one of the few non-Chinese companies building large-scale lithium hydroxide conversion capacity for EV batteries. POSCO's PPLS JV with Pilbara Minerals (Australia) converts Australian spodumene into battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Korea — a vertical integration play that positions the same company that makes rebar for Korean apartments also making LiOH that goes into Korean EV batteries (Hyundai, Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution customers). Analysts tracking the global steel industry and those tracking the battery materials critical minerals space are both watching POSCO without realizing they're following the same company's transformation.
POSCO Holdings ↗Origin2023
POSCO was founded in 1968 by South Korea's President Park Chung-hee as the Pohang Iron and Steel Company, using Japanese war reparations payments (from the 1965 Korea-Japan normalization treaty) as seed capital to build Korea's first integrated steel mill. The decision to build a major steel industry at Pohang on Korea's east coast was part of Park's Heavy-Chemical Industrialization Plan, which also created Korea's shipbuilding and petrochemical industries. POSCO grew to become one of the world's most efficient steelmakers and was privatized in 2000, then rebranded as POSCO Holdings in 2022 as it restructured to reflect its expansion into battery materials.
POSCO Holdings ↗