Achieves historic honor of becoming the world’s first company inducted into WSD’s ‘Hall of Fame’ after receiving recognition for the most extended consecutive period of global top competitiveness at the U.S. WSD Conference
Chairman In-hwa Chang: “I extend my deepest gratitude to all POSCO Group employees who made today’s honor possible··· We will leap forward as a global premier materials company through bold challenges and innovation”
Discusses manufacturing AI transformation and solutions to global economic fragmentation with opinion leaders, experts, and scholars at the Korea Society roundtable, exploring Korea-U.S. cooperation opportunities
POSCO Group announced its strategy for strengthening global leadership in New York, exploring manufacturing solutions through cooperation between Korea and the U.S. in the AI and energy sectors.
Chairman In-hwa Chang participated in the Global Steel Dynamics Forum hosted by World Steel Dynamics (WSD, a global steel industry analysis organization) in New York on June 18 (local time), introducing POSCO Group’s strategy for advancing as a premier future materials company.
The event was attended by steel industry leaders and approximately 500 industry stakeholders, including David Burritt, CEO of U.S. Steel, Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman of Cleveland Cliffs, and TV Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel.
The forum was made particularly meaningful with a ceremony inducting POSCO Holdings as the first global steel group to be permanently enshrined in the WSD Hall of Fame.
▲POSCO Group Chairman In-hwa Chang (left) poses for a commemorative photo after receiving a specially crafted WSD Hall of Fame plaque in the form of a baseball jersey from WSD CEO Philipp Englin at the WSD Forum held in New York on June 18 (local time).
POSCO Holdings has been ranked first for 15 consecutive years since 2010 in WSD’s “World’s Most Competitive Steel Company” evaluation, which has assessed 35 steel companies worldwide since 2002 across 23 criteria, including technological innovation, production scale, cost reduction, processing costs, financial soundness, customer accessibility, and raw material procurement. The company was inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of this honor and superior competitiveness.
Chairman Chang expressed his sentiments, saying, “The 15 years of maintaining first place in overall competitiveness is by no means a short period, and I am deeply grateful for the valuable sweat and dedication of all POSCO employees.” He also conveyed his appreciation, noting that “the Hall of Fame induction represents encouragement and support from the global steel industry.”
He emphasized that this induction marks the beginning of a new chapter for the POSCO Group, which will continue its relentless efforts to enhance competitiveness through the realization of intelligent factories via AI and the development of hydrogen-based steelmaking technology, becoming a POSCO that grows responsibly through a bold and challenging spirit and continuous innovation.
Prior to the forum, Chairman In-hwa Chang participated in a roundtable organized by The Korea Society, an organization established to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Korea and the United States, on June 17 to explore Korea-U.S. cooperation strategies centered on group businesses.
The roundtable was attended by experts and scholars from both countries in the fields of AI, geopolitics, and energy, including Korea Society Chairwoman Kathleen Stephens, President Thomas Byrne, University of Maryland Chair Professor Jay Lee, and American Energy Alliance President Mark Menezes.
The session featured in-depth discussions on Korea-U.S. cooperation opportunities in the steel, secondary battery materials, and energy sectors amid geopolitical uncertainties, including global economic fragmentation.
Additionally, practical solutions were explored to address challenges facing manufacturing during the AI transformation era, including the utilization of the “Industrial Large Knowledge Model (ILKM)” that enhances reliability by integrating expert process knowledge and data from various fields into AI, as well as robot automation solutions for high-risk, non-standard manufacturing environments.
In April, Chairman In-hwa Chang attended the World Steel Association Executive Committee meeting in Australia, inspected the Senex Energy gas field project site in Australia, and visited the construction site of Ultium CAM, a cathode material production subsidiary located in Canada, to personally oversee global secondary battery materials business operations. In May, he participated in the opening ceremony of Australia’s Core Resources Research Institute, the first overseas resource-specialized research institute established by a Korean company, continuing his global management activities centered on steel and secondary battery materials businesses.