[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] POSCO Future M will expand its production capacity at a Canadian joint plant that makes anode materials, a key material for secondary batteries. A new electric ball factory is also being built.

POSCO Future M will invest about 1 trillion won (757 million dollars) in POSCO Chemical Canada, a North American battery-based corporation.

"We have decided to make a second-phase investment to expand the production capacity of Ultimate Cam, a joint venture of anode materials in North America," POSCO Future M said at a board meeting on the 2nd. "We will push for the expansion of the anode material production plant and the establishment of a precursor plant, an intermediate material, in 2026."

Ultium CAM is a joint venture established in July last year by POSCO FutureM and US automaker General Motors (GM·GM). It is building a cathode material plant with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons in Becanquoa, Quebec, Canada, with the aim of completing it in 2024. The decision to invest on this day is the second stage of investment following the first stage of production of 30,000 tons of bipolar materials.

Ultium CAM has also signed an additional contract to supply high-nickel anode materials manufactured on the expanded line to GM and Ultimam Cells, a joint venture for LG energy solution batteries. The contract size is about 13.18 trillion won for nine years from 2025∼2033.

POSCO FutureM's investment is aimed at responding to growing demand for electric vehicles in North America and strengthening battery supply chains such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Through the investment, POSCO FutureM plans to expand its production capacity of cathode materials, a key battery material, and create an industrial complex that can produce precursor, an intermediate material, locally.

While expanding mass production bases in North America, China and Europe, which are major markets for electric vehicles, the company plans to increase the global production capacity of anode materials by 105,000 tons to 610,000 tons by 2030.

 

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