POSCO Group chairman traverses North America to boost battery materials business
POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, front row fourth from left, poses with workers at the construction site for a cathode materials plant in the Canadian province of Quebec, June 21. Courtesy of POSCO Group
By Park Jae-hyuk
POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo recently visited New York and Detroit, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec, to seek the cooperation of investors and businesspeople there, specifically in the rechargeable battery materials industry, the company said Wednesday.
During the first two days of this week, he met with Wall Street investors from JPMorgan Chase, AllianceBernstein and Westwood Global Investments to introduce POSCO Group's businesses and growth plan for the future.
In particular, the chairman told JPMorgan Chief Operating Officer Daniel Pinto about POSCO Holdings' saltwater lithium commercialization plant in Argentina, which will begin operation in 2024 so that the group can establish a full value chain for rechargeable battery materials.
Choi also visited Detroit last Wednesday to talk with top executives of an undisclosed global carmaker about potential cooperation on rechargeable battery materials, in addition to their ongoing cooperation in steelmaking.
Although POSCO Group did not disclose the identity of the global carmaker, the chairman reportedly had a closed-door meeting in the U.S. last week with Ford CEO Jim Farley, who visited POSCO Center in Seoul last October. POSCO Future M CEO Kim Jun-hyung is also said to have participated in their recent meeting.
In Canada, Choi met with Quebec Premier Francois Legault to ask for support for the Korean firm's operations there. The chairman also encouraged workers who are building a cathode materials plant jointly for POSCO Future M and General Motors in the province.
POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo speaks during the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York, Tuesday. Courtesy of POSCO Group
On Tuesday, he delivered a keynote speech during the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York to introduce the main trends facing the global steelmaking industry and emphasize the necessity of borderless cooperation to continue sustainable growth. He told the global steelmaking industry leaders that the Korean steelmaker plans to take the lead in achieving the goal of net zero.