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SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) — POSCO Future M Co., the battery materials unit of POSCO Holdings, said Monday it has secured a 1 trillion-won (US$668 million) contract to supply battery materials to a global automaker.
Under the five-year agreement, POSCO Future M will supply synthetic graphite anode active materials to the undisclosed carmaker from 2027 through 2032, the company said in a press release.
The value of the deal may reach 2.2 trillion won should the deal be extended to 2038.
The customer is presumed to be Tesla, according to industry sources.
To fulfill the contract, the company plans to invest 357 billion won to build a synthetic graphite anode plant in Vietnam.
In October, POSCO Future M signed a separate 670 billion-won deal with the same automaker to supply natural graphite anodes. The company said it plans to expand the partnership to include lithium and cathode materials.
POSCO Future M currently produces cathode materials for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum (NCMA) batteries. It plans to expand its portfolio to include lithium iron phosphate (LFP), all-solid-state batteries (ASBs) and lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries.
Backed by its advanced technology and expanded production capacity, the company said it is “in talks” with multiple potential customers in South Korea, the United States and the European Union to supply cathode and anode materials.
This undated file photo provided by POSCO Future M shows the production line of synthetic graphite anode active materials at its plant in Pohang, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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