POSCO acquired ‘Tera Technos’
Incorporated as an affiliate after changing the name
POSCO Chemical combining with graphite anode materials
Huge improvement of silicon-based anode material performance
A subsidiary of POSCO Group’s battery materials, Tera Technos, is changing their name to POSCO Silicon Solution and promoting the silicon anode material business. POSCO Silicon Solution will attempt for the first time in Korea to mass-produce silicon oxide (SiOx) anode materials by collaborating with POSCO Chemical, a group affiliate.
POSCO set the battery material as their future growth engine and has been accelerating the development of the anode material business. POSCO acquired Tera Technos by investing 47.8 billion KRW, a company specializing in silicon anode materials. Tera Technos was founded in 2017 with the transfer of nanometer-sized SiOx nanopowder manufacturing technology from the Korea Institute of Energy Research.
SiOx has a higher energy density than conventional graphite and minimizes the problems of volume expansion and lifespan reduction by nano-sized silicon particles. POSCO changed the name of recently required Tera Technos to POSCO Silicon Solution and incorporated it as an affiliate. POSCO plans to expand the anode material business based on the know-how in mass production of anode materials accumulated by POSCO Chemical.
POSCO Silicon Solution is preparing to commercialize SiOx anode materials. They are testing sample products of SiOx with the domestic battery industry. They will cooperate with POSCO Chemical to advance products and begin mass production in earnest. A material industry official said, “POSCO Chemical is mass-producing graphite anode materials, and it is known that they are developing silicon-based anode materials with significantly improved performance by combining graphite-based anode materials with SiOx.”
POSCO is the largest steelmaker in Korea and also growing their battery materials business. The company will promote the cathode and anode materials, which are key battery materials, by focusing on POSCO Chemical. For cathode materials, they have secured General Motors (GM) as a new customer, the largest automaker in the United States, and for anode materials, they are expanding their business to silicon anode materials with a focus on graphite anode materials. Synergy can be sought between POSCO Silicon Solution and the silicon anode material business. The POSCO Group is preparing for a new leap forward as a global electric vehicle battery material specialist.
<Table> Company Overview of POSCO Silicon Solution
By Staff Reporter Ji-woong Kim (jw0316@etnews.com)