POSCO Establishes Production System for 1 Million Tons of Eco-Friendly Giga Steel

Giga-grade Steel Annual Growth of 13%... 12.4 Million Tons by 2050
Enhancing Steel Competitiveness through Durability, Safety, and Eco-friendliness

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] POSCO has established a production system capable of producing 1 million tons of gigasteel (ultra-high-strength lightweight steel), known as the "dream automotive steel," to respond to the demand for future car steel sheets and to secure market leadership.

On the 17th, POSCO held an event for the "Establishment of an Eco-friendly Gigasteel 1 Million Ton Production System" at the Gwangyang Steelworks. Gigasteel refers to ultra-high-strength lightweight steel sheets with a tensile strength of over 1 GPa. It boasts excellent durability and safety, and is eco-friendly due to lower carbon emissions compared to other materials of the same grade.

According to market research firm IHS Markit, the global gigasteel market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 13%, from 6.7 million tons in 2020 to 12.4 million tons in 2025. Additionally, with the increase in battery installation and safety devices in vehicles, reducing vehicle body weight has emerged as a key issue in the industry.

Recently, the automotive industry has been accelerating its restructuring toward eco-friendly vehicles to respond to strengthening environmental regulations. To respond to the mega trends of the automotive industry such as the expansion of the eco-friendly vehicle market and the demand for vehicle body lightweighting, POSCO has sequentially invested about 500 billion KRW since 2017 to newly build and expand gigasteel manufacturing facilities within the Gwangyang Steelworks site.

POSCO introduced a dedicated thin sheet rolling mill (ZRM) that can produce sheets as thin as 0.5mm and widen the width up to 1650mm, establishing a system capable of supplying a wide range of products that other companies find difficult to produce, thereby facilitating automotive manufacturers' design and production.

Furthermore, to meet increasingly stringent quality control demands from customers, POSCO newly built and expanded facilities capable of precise temperature control during heating and cooling in the hot rolling process, and enhanced leveling capabilities to maintain maximum flatness of the steel sheets without waviness across the entire surface.

President Kim Hak-dong stated, "Since producing its first molten iron in April 1987, Gwangyang Steelworks has grown into the world's largest and best automotive steel specialized steelworks, producing 9.5 million tons of automotive steel sheets annually. The establishment of the 1 million ton gigasteel production system will be a decisive opportunity for POSCO to firmly establish its global leadership as a specialized supplier of eco-friendly vehicle materials in the rapidly growing new mobility market."