POSCO International Corp., the energy and trading unit of South Korea’s steel giant POSCO Holdings Inc., said it will build new traction motor core plants in Poland and Mexico to expand its presence in the global eco-friendly vehicle market.
The company approved the construction plans at its board meeting on Friday with the participation of newly appointed Chief Executive Lee Kye-in.
Lee, formerly POSCO International’s global business unit chief, was named to take the helm of the company during a recent POSCO Group executive reshuffle. He will officially take office upon approval at the company’s annual general meeting in March.
In Poland, the company will build a motor core manufacturing plant on a 100,000 square-meter plot of land in the southwestern city of Brzeg, close to electric vehicle production bases for major automakers in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
POSCO International will break ground on the factory in June with a plan to complete construction by May 2025. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million units by 2030, it said. Motor cores produced at the plant will also be supplied to Korea’s top two automakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. for their EVs to be sold in Europe.
POSCO International’s new plant in Mexico will be built in Ramos Arizpe, a city in the Coahuila state. The company is already operating a motor core plant built last October in the city. The second plant, to be located near the first one, will break ground in May and be completed next March, the company said.
Once the second factory is up and running, POSCO International will have an annual production capacity of 2.5 million units in Mexico, it said.
The new plant will largely supply motor cores to Hyundai Motor’s US electric vehicle plant, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America LLC (HMGMA), in Georgia.
