Jang In-hwa "Cars Will Ultimately Be Electric... Discovering New Investment Opportunities During the Chasm Period"

Keynote Speech at the US WSD Conference

Jang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Group, unveiled the group’s strategy to secure competitiveness for its leap into a top-tier future enterprise on the global stage for the first time. POSCO Group plans to secure a super-gap competitiveness in the steel and secondary battery materials sectors.

On the 18th (local time), Chairman Jang attended the 'Global Steel Dynamics Forum' held by the world-renowned steel analysis organization WSD (World Steel Dynamics) in New York, USA, and delivered a keynote speech titled “Innovation Toward Super-Gap Future Competitiveness.”

POSCO Group Chairman Jang In-hwa is delivering a keynote speech on "Innovation for Future Competitive Advantage" at the Global Steel Conference held in New York on the 18th (local time). (Provided by POSCO Holdings)

Chairman Jang introduced POSCO Group’s innovation efforts to respond to global megatrends such as industrial transformation, geopolitical uncertainties including the US-China rivalry, and demographic and social structure changes. He also presented the business strategies based on steel and secondary battery materials, along with directions for organizational culture innovation, drawing significant attention from attendees.

In the steel sector, he introduced plans to promote green transformation through a low-carbon supply system and digital transformation toward intelligent factories. He emphasized realizing carbon neutrality by 2050 by completing a low-carbon facility system through the commercialization of the hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology 'HyREX,' and implementing intelligent factories?autonomous manufacturing processes that collaborate among humans, AI, and robots.

POSCO Group plans to strengthen the establishment of a safe working environment by securing super-gap cost competitiveness through green transformation (GX) and digital transformation (DX) technologies, as well as replacing high-risk and high-intensity tasks with AI and robots.

Chairman Jang stated that in the secondary battery materials sector, the group will focus on securing competitiveness in raw materials such as lithium and nickel, while continuing unwavering investments to complete the entire value chain from raw materials to cathode and anode materials and next-generation battery material technology development, aiming for early commercialization.

He also shared communication strategies to spread a young and dynamic corporate culture in the traditionally manufacturing-heavy steel industry and to actively engage with future generations such as Generation Z. He introduced the animation advertisement 'Fantasteel,' launched last year through collaboration between POSCO and the online gaming industry. The Fantasteel advertisement resonated strongly with younger generations, garnering nearly 34 million views in total.

Chairman Jang shared the future vision, stating, “POSCO Group will expand its business with innovative materials for realizing an eco-friendly future society and leap into a top-tier future enterprise with a spirit of challenge that transcends limits.” He urged the global steel industry to unite and overcome and solve pressing issues such as carbon neutrality together.

After the keynote speech, in response to a question from Philip Englin, Chairman of WSD, about the future outlook of the electric vehicle market, Chairman Jang said, “The automobile market will ultimately transition to electric vehicles,” adding, “We will take the chasm (temporary demand stagnation) period as an opportunity to strengthen our foundation and continue to explore new investment opportunities.”

This forum, which began in 1986, is the largest global steel conference held in the Americas, with participation from major global steelmakers, equipment and engineering firms, and financial institutions. This year, over 500 leaders and industry stakeholders from the global steel industry gathered to discuss current issues and the future of the steel industry.

Meanwhile, since 2002, WSD has annually selected and announced the world’s most competitive steelmakers from among 35 steel companies worldwide. POSCO was ranked first as the world’s most competitive steelmaker for 14 consecutive years last year.