POSCO Future M will build a new synthetic graphite anode material plant in Vietnam. POSCO Future M said on Wednesday its board approved a plan to build the plant in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, with an investment of about 357 billion won.

Construction will begin in the second half of this year and mass production will start from 2028. The company will build the plant on a site that can be expanded to 55,000 tonnes and plans to expand it in phases in line with additional orders. Vietnam can cut costs such as investment, electricity, labour and logistics expenses. Compared with other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, it can also secure cost competitiveness and has industrial infrastructure, including the power grid.

The new plant is aimed at meeting growing needs to stabilise supply chains for key battery materials as trade regulations tighten. The United States last year introduced prohibited foreign entity (PFE) requirements as a sub-rule under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Europe set targets through the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to reduce reliance on specific countries for strategic raw materials.

To respond, POSCO Future M said it has continued supply talks on synthetic graphite anode materials with multiple customers. Synthetic graphite anode materials are advantageous for improving fast-charging performance and battery life, and POSCO Future M operates a synthetic graphite anode material plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, with an annual capacity of 8,000 tonnes.

A POSCO Future M official said, "Based on supply chain solutions and technological capabilities that can respond to trade regulations in each country, we are conducting supply talks on cathode and anode materials with multiple customers in Korea, North America and the EU." The official added, "We will continue to push to upgrade business competitiveness and expand sales, and aim to go beyond being Korea's only company that produces both cathode and anode materials at the same time, to become a global top-tier battery materials player."