Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
POSCO
Korea's largest steelmaker, incorporated on 1 Apr 1968 as Pohang Iron and Steel with 39 employees under Park Tae-joon (POSCO newsroom; secondary histories), financed in part with Japanese funds tied to the 1965 normalisation of relations (reported; amounts and terms not confirmed — verify), first producing steel at Pohang in 1973 (one history says 1972) with ~1.03m tonnes a year of capacity, privatised by Oct 2000 (some sources say 2001), and now run through a holding company, POSCO Holdings, that owns the steel business, the trading house POSCO International and the battery-materials maker POSCO Future M (structure partly from memory, verify). It reported ~69.1tn won of 2025 revenue (−5.0%), ~1.83tn won of operating profit (−~16%) and ~504bn won of net profit (−~47%) (company, via Korea JoongAng Daily and Nasdaq/RTT), then a Q3 2026 operating profit of ~940–945bn won (+~48% y/y) on a steel recovery (company 6-K; Chosun Biz, Grafa). Its US moves are new and partial: a 20% stake for ~$582m in Hyundai Steel's ~$5.8bn, ~2.7m t a year electric-arc-furnace sheet mill at Donaldsonville, Louisiana (finalised Dec 2025, commercial production targeted 2029), and a non-binding memorandum with Cleveland-Cliffs signed 17 Sep 2025, still without a definitive agreement in late 2026 (Shared facts; IndustryWeek). Its manufacturing story turns on process capability built from nothing by a state champion, two greenfield coastal works that set Asia's cost benchmark, a diversification into lithium and cathode materials that the 2024–26 lithium slump punished, and — now — the need to make steel inside the US tariff wall rather than ship over it.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1 Apr 1968 as Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO newsroom; secondary histories); renamed POSCO in 2002 (secondary)
- Headquarters
- Pohang (registered) and Seoul (operations) (from memory, verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Listed in Seoul (shares listed 1988, secondary) and on the NYSE as ADRs (ticker PKX, SEC 6-K filer); privatisation completed 4 Oct 2000 per one account, 2001 per others (secondary); holding-company structure POSCO Holdings from 2022 (from memory, verify date) with POSCO (steel), POSCO International, POSCO Future M, POSCO E&C and others
- Leadership (2026)
- Chairman Chang In-hwa (from memory, verify, appointed 2024); founder Park Tae-joon (1927–2011, from memory, verify dates)
- Plants
- Pohang Works and Gwangyang Works in Korea (integrated blast-furnace sites; Gwangyang Phase 1 construction began Mar 1985, POSCO newsroom); overseas downstream and processing plants; PT Krakatau POSCO integrated mill in Cilegon, Indonesia (JV with Krakatau Steel, from memory, verify dates and stake); lithium in Argentina (Salar del Hombre Muerto, rights bought from Galaxy Resources for ~$280m in 2018, reported)
- Scale
- 2025 consolidated revenue ~69.1tn won (2024: ~72.7tn), operating profit ~1.83tn won (2024: ~2.17tn), net profit ~504bn won; steel segment revenue ~35tn won (−6.8%), steel operating profit ~1.78tn won (+20.8%) (company, via Korea JoongAng Daily, Nasdaq/RTT). Q3 2026: operating profit ~940–945bn won (+~48% y/y; +15.3% q/q); steel ~455.1bn, POSCO International ~400.7bn, POSCO Future M ~82.1bn won (company; Chosun Biz, MarketBeat, Grafa — preliminary, unaudited). Crude-steel output and capacity not re-checked in C20 (verify)
- US footprint
- 20% of Hyundai Steel's Louisiana EAF mill (~$582m via a new subsidiary, POSCO Louisiana; Dec 2025 filing, reported) (Hyundai Motor Group); MOU with Cleveland-Cliffs (17 Sep 2025, non-binding, announced 29 Oct 2025 as the Korea–US trade agreement took effect) (Cleveland-Cliffs); historically the USS-POSCO Industries finishing JV with U.S. Steel in Pittsburg, California (from 1986; POSCO's exit around 2020 — from memory, verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and Pohang (1968–73); Gwangyang greenfield (1985–); privatisation (2000); the Odisha, India project and its 2017 withdrawal (failure) and the 2025–26 JSW return; lithium and battery materials (2018–); Typhoon Hinnamnor's flooding of Pohang (Sep 2022, failure and recovery); the Louisiana stake with Hyundai Steel (2025); the Cleveland-Cliffs memorandum (2025–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1968
Founding and Pohang Works with Japanese Funds
Founding / greenfield plant
1985
Gwangyang Greenfield Works
Greenfield plant
2000
Privatisation and the Listed Champion
Privatisation / ownership change
2005
Odisha India Project and the 2017 Withdrawal
Greenfield plant abroad (failure); later joint venture
2018
Lithium and Battery Materials Diversification
Technology bet / vertical integration into battery materials
2022
Typhoon Hinnamnor Pohang Flood
Natural disaster / production halt and recovery (failure of site resilience; recovery as execution)
2025
Cleveland Cliffs Memorandum and the US Tariff Wall
Strategic partnership (pending; non-binding memorandum)
2025
Louisiana EAF Mill Stake with Hyundai Steel
Joint venture / US greenfield plant (minority stake)