Seoul: POSCO Future M Co., the battery materials unit of POSCO Holdings, announced it has entered into a significant agreement valued at 1 trillion won (US$668 million) to supply battery materials to a global automaker. Under this five-year contract, POSCO Future M will provide synthetic graphite anode active materials to the unnamed car manufacturer from 2027 through 2032.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the contract's value could escalate to 2.2 trillion won if extended to 2038. While the automaker's identity remains undisclosed, industry sources speculate that Tesla is the likely customer. In order to meet the terms of the agreement, POSCO Future M plans to invest 357 billion won in constructing a synthetic graphite anode plant in Vietnam.

In a related development, POSCO Future M secured a separate 670 billion-won agreement in October with the same automaker to supply natural graphite anodes. The company aims to further this partnership by including lithium and cathode materials in future deals.

POSCO Future M currently manufactures cathode materials for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum (NCMA) batteries. The company is looking to diversify its portfolio to incorporate lithium iron phosphate (LFP), all-solid-state batteries (ASBs), and lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries.

In a statement, the company emphasized its ongoing discussions with several potential clients in South Korea, the United States, and the European Union for supplying cathode and anode materials, leveraging its advanced technology and enhanced production capabilities.