POSCO Future M to Supply Anode Materials to Japanese Battery Company

Interior view of POSCO Future M's Sejong anode material plant. POSCO Future M

On July 11, POSCO Future M announced that it had signed an anode material supply contract with a Japanese battery company. Under the agreement, POSCO Future M will produce natural anode materials at its Sejong plant and supply them for use in electric vehicle batteries manufactured in Japan. The specific details of the contract, such as the counterpart, duration, and scale, will not be disclosed in accordance with the mutual agreement between the two companies.

By securing the Japanese battery company as a new client, POSCO Future M has diversified its customer base beyond the three major domestic battery manufacturers. The company stated, "We have developed a wide range of natural graphite and artificial graphite anode materials tailored to customer needs, resulting in a broad product portfolio," adding, "We are also working on the commercialization of silicon anode materials." The company has also enhanced its price competitiveness by pursuing process innovation to improve anode material productivity.

Notably, POSCO Future M is strengthening its supply chain competitiveness by establishing a self-sufficient system for graphite ore and intermediate materials, breaking away from reliance on China, which dominates the global anode material market. In response to supply chain diversification efforts and trade regulations in major markets such as the United States and the European Union (EU), POSCO Group is working to secure an independent supply chain from raw materials to material production.

For natural graphite anode materials, the company is promoting raw material localization by securing graphite ore from countries outside of China, such as those in Africa, and producing spherical graphite, an intermediate material, domestically.

POSCO Future M plans to invest 440 billion KRW by 2027 to build Korea's first spherical graphite manufacturing plant in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, with an annual production capacity of 37,000 tons. The raw material, natural graphite, will be sourced from Africa, secured by POSCO Group. The produced spherical graphite will be used at the Sejong plant to manufacture anode materials.

For artificial graphite anode materials, the company processes coke produced at domestic POSCO steelworks to manufacture graphite raw materials.

A POSCO Future M representative stated, "We plan to continuously expand our customer base by broadening our product portfolio based on differentiated technology and by further advancing our manufacturing capabilities and supply chain competitiveness."