Posco pushes AI, new materials innovation as chairman says 'technology itself is the product'

38th Tech Forum held in Gwangyang with 800 in attendance

'Technology is the driving force behind resource value'

PosMAC Super, metalens technology win top prizes

AX Awards introduced for first time

Posco Group Chairman Jang In-hwa listens to an explanation of high-density lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology from Hong Jeong-jin, head of the Energy Materials Research Institute, at the secondary battery technology exhibition booth of the 38th Posco Group Tech Forum held Tuesday in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. [Posco Group]

Posco Group Chairman Jang In-hwa said the conglomerate must go beyond strengthening its technological competitiveness in steel and secondary battery materials and turn technology itself into a new revenue stream. The vision is to expand software-based technology commercialization using AI to sharpen execution of the group's "Triple Core" future growth strategy.

Posco Group announced Wednesday that it is holding the 38th Posco Group Tech Forum over two days beginning Tuesday in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.

About 800 people attended, including Jang, chief executives and employees of major group affiliates, and Latorre, chief operating officer of India's JSW Steel. Participants discussed shifts in the business environment driven by the global energy transition and ways to boost productivity through AI transformation, or AX.

In his opening remarks, Jang said, "The driving force that raises the value of resources and translates it into tangible results is our technology."

He added, "We must create new value and expand our business scope through software-based technology commercialization, where technology itself becomes the product."

The message was that while technology has traditionally been used in producing steel and materials, the group must now also focus on commercializing its accumulated technology and software to generate new revenue.

Through its Triple Core strategy, Posco Group is developing three growth pillars: industrial resources centered on steel; strategic resources including lithium, cathode materials, anode materials and rare earths; and energy resources such as LNG and renewable energy.

Posco Group Chairman Jang In-hwa (left) listens to an explanation of humanoid robot technology from Yun Il-yong, head of the AI and Robot Convergence Research Institute, at the AI transformation (AX) technology exhibition booth of the 38th Posco Group Tech Forum held Tuesday in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. [Posco Group]

The forum also featured the Posco Technology Award ceremony, which recognizes outstanding technological achievements across the group.

A total of 14 projects received awards this year. To encourage broader employee participation in technology development, Posco Group raised the top prize from 100 million won ($73,800) to 150 million won.

The grand prize — the highest honor — went to one project each in the steel and new growth categories.

In the steel category, Posco's PosMAC Super ultra-high corrosion-resistant coated steel product took the grand prize.

PosMAC Super offers enhanced resistance to corrosion compared with conventional steel. It was developed to maintain durability even in environments where iron corrodes easily, such as seawater or high-salinity soil.

Posco Group plans to use the product to target the high-corrosion-resistance steel market for applications including renewable energy infrastructure.

In the new growth category, the grand prize went to a mass production process technology for next-generation augmented reality (AR) device metalenses, jointly developed by the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) and Postech.

A Posco team that developed the PosMAC Super ultra-high corrosion-resistant coated steel product receives the top Technology Award at the 38th Posco Group Tech Forum held Tuesday in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. [Posco Group]

Unlike conventional lenses that refract light through curved glass surfaces, a metalens controls the direction of light by creating microscopic nanostructures on a flat surface. Because metalenses can be made thin and lightweight, they are expected to contribute to the miniaturization of next-generation smart devices such as AR glasses.

The award-winning technology focuses on the mass production process needed to apply metalenses to actual products. Posco Group plans to use it as a foundation to broaden commercialization possibilities in related materials and components.

At the inaugural Posco Group AX Awards, introduced this year, Posco's Pohang Quality Technology Division took the top prize.

The winning technology combines physics-based analysis and AI to assess the quality of slabs, a semi-finished steel product made by solidifying molten metal into thick plates. Those plates are later processed into automotive steel sheets and other products through rolling.

The Pohang Quality Technology Division combined process data accumulated by field engineers with AI algorithms to improve the accuracy and productivity of quality assessment. Some say the technology demonstrates how shop-floor experience and AI can be integrated effectively.

Since Jang took office, Posco Group has pursued the development of high-value-added steel products, the advancement of lithium process technology, and the introduction of AI on the manufacturing floor.

The group said it will strengthen execution of its Triple Core strategy by improving the profitability of existing businesses while channeling its technology and resource development capabilities into new ventures.

kwater@heraldcorp.com