Posco said it bought a 13% stake in Qingdao Zhongshuo New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. for 4.9 billion won to ensure the key materials needed to produce anodes for electric vehicle batteries, koreabizwire reported.
The chemical subsidiary of South Korean steel giant Posco said it would start accepting spherical graphite from Zhongshuo in 2022, but gave no details.
Zhongshuo, located in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, China, has an annual capacity of 25000 tons of spherical graphite, which is the material needed to make anodes.
The anode is the key material of the battery, which can preserve the lithium in the cathode and generate electricity while releasing lithium.
Posco said it plans to increase the annual production capacity of anodes from the current 44000 tons to 260000 tons by 2030, which is enough to produce about 5.7 million electric vehicles with 60 kilowatt-hour battery packs.
As part of its diversification strategy, Posco has been promoting the electric vehicle industry in recent years.
In July, Posco said it would invest 600 billion won in 2022 to build a new cathode material plant with an annual capacity of 60, 000 tons in Posco Port.
