The company said its board on Wednesday approved an investment of about 357 billion won ($3570억원) to build the plant in Thai Nguyen, an industrial city in northern Vietnam. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, with mass production planned from 2028.
The plant will be built on a site that can be expanded to a maximum capacity of 55,000 tons. Posco Future M said it plans to increase output in stages depending on orders.
Synthetic graphite anode material is used to improve fast-charging performance and battery life, and demand has been rising. The company said the material has drawn attention as a strategic item because supply is heavily dependent on certain countries, making diversification a priority.
The company cited moves by major markets to reshape supply chains. The United States last year created requirements for “prohibited foreign entities” under implementing rules for the Inflation Reduction Act, and Europe set goals under the Critical Raw Materials Act to reduce reliance on specific countries for strategic raw materials.
Posco Future M said it has been working to internalize the full supply chain for natural and synthetic graphite anode materials, covering raw materials, intermediate materials and finished products.
It said it localized natural graphite anode materials in 2011 and completed a synthetic graphite anode plant in Pohang in 2021, establishing a mass-production system and supporting supply-chain self-reliance for South Korea’s battery industry.
Posco Future M said Vietnam offers cost advantages in investment, electricity, labor and logistics, and can secure competitive costs compared with other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia. It also cited Vietnam’s industrial infrastructure, including its power grid, and said the country is pursuing export-led growth while working to create favorable trade conditions with major countries, including the United States.
A Posco Future M official said the company is holding talks with multiple customers in South Korea, North America and the European Union on supplying cathode and anode materials, based on supply-chain solutions and technology that can respond to trade restrictions. The official said the company will continue to strengthen competitiveness and expand sales, aiming to become a top-tier global battery materials player.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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