POSCO Int'l to supply EV motor cores to Hyundai Motor Group

South Korea's POSCO International Corp. on Thursday said it signed a deal to supply 3.5 million traction motor cores for electric vehicles (EV) to Hyundai Motor Group.

Under the contract, POSCO International will supply over a million units of front-wheel traction motor cores and 1.6 million of those for rear-wheel drive of next-generation EVs to the new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Ellabell, Georgia, from 2026-34. Another 810,000 cores for rear-wheel drive will go toward the carmaker's domestic output.

At 250,000 won ($188) per core, the deal is worth about 900 billion won ($677.6 million).

The number of cores the group ordered from POSCO International since November last year thus increased to 10.3 million.

POSCO Mobility Solutions, a subsidiary of POSCO International, is South Korea's No. 1 motor core maker. Manufactured with non-oriented electrical steel sheet, the core sees significantly less energy loss than those made with conventional sheets.

POSCO Mobility Solutions is the lone maker of the component in South Korea.

To overcome potential trade barriers in EVs such as the US Inflation Reduction Act and meet the procurement demands of automakers abroad, POSCO International seeks to greatly expand its overseas production network. Its strategy through this network is to produce five million motor cores per year by 2030.

With annual capacity of 1.5 million units, the company's plant in Mexico will be completed next month. In Europe, a factory site is being reviewed in Poland for under the goal of launching production in 2025.

“This order is significant in that we will directly supply traction motor cores, a key component of a traction motor, to the new overseas plant of Hyundai Motor Group, a leading corporation on the automotive market,” a POSCO International source said. “We will continue expanding our influence on the global market for eco-friendly mobility."

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com