Hyundai Steel breaks ground on $5.8 billion low-carbon steel plant in Louisiana
The Hyundai Steel-Posco Louisiana Steel project will have an annual capacity of 2.7 million tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated steel sheets, with mass production targeted for 2029.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, second from left, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, third from left, and Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan take a photo at the groundbreaking ceremony for Hyundai Steel's $5.8 billion factory in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, on Sept. 4.HYUNDAI STEEL
Hyundai Steel broke ground on Saturday on a $5.8 billion electric arc furnace steel plant in Louisiana, the first of its kind in North America that significantly cuts carbon emissions.
The project is part of Hyundai Motor Group’s pledge to invest $21 billion — later raised to $26 billion — in the United States by 2028. The investment was announced at the White House in March of last year.
The Hyundai Steel-Posco Louisiana Steel project, which rests on a 7.37-million-square-meter (1,821.2-acre) site, will have an annual capacity of 2.7 million tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated steel sheets. Mass production is targeted for 2029.
A rendered image of Hyundai Steel's $5.8 billion factory in Donaldsonville, LouisianaHYUNDAI STEEL
The steel produced will be supplied to Hyundai Motor’s and Kia’s auto plants in the United States.
The total investment of $5.8 billion will be split among Hyundai Steel, which holds a 50 percent stake; Posco, which holds 20 percent; and Hyundai Motor and Kia, which each hold 15 percent.
Hyundai Steel said that the plant is expected to cut carbon emissions by about 70 percent compared to traditional blast furnace production.
The facility will also feature an integrated system spanning the full production process, from raw steelmaking materials to finished products.
Euisun Chung, the executive chair of Hyundai Motor Group, shared his vision to supply steel to robots and even rockets during the plant’s groundbreaking ceremony on Friday.
“Steel produced [here] will definitely be supplied to Atlas and, hopefully, to rockets in the future,” he said.
Hyundai plans to deploy Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics, to its auto plants starting in 2028.
When asked about deploying Atlas in the Louisiana plant, Chung said that “deployment will be decided after conducting various field tests, as Atlas will perform tasks that are difficult or dangerous for humans to perform.”
