South Korea's Hyundai Steel and POSCO have begun construction of their $5.8 billion low carbon steel plant in Louisiana, marking the start of a project aimed at creating a localized automotive steel supply chain in North America, media reports say. Serial production is scheduled to begin early this year, 2029.
The Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana Steel (HPLS) plant, located in Donaldsonville, will produce an annual capacity of 2.7 million tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized steel. Of the total production volume, about 1.8 million tons will be accounted for by the production of automotive steel, while the remaining 900,000 tons will be intended for general use.
The plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 70%
The integrated plant will combine direct cast iron reduction (DRI) and electric arc furnaces (EAF) technologies, which Hyundai Steel expects will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 70 percent compared to traditional blast furnace steel production. The company stated that this facility will be the first chipboard-based mill in the United States dedicated to automotive sheet steel production.
began to be produced at the plant to initially support Hyundai Motor and Kia's manufacturing operations, as well as other automakers in the southern United States and Mexico. Hyundai Motor Group executive Chairman Eisung Chang said the company also expects future demand for low-carbon steel produced at the plant from humanoid robots, artificial intelligence data centers, energy and aerospace facilities.
The investment is part of Hyundai Motor Group's broader $26 billion investment plan through 2028. The Louisiana plant is also expected to create about 1,300 jobs.
Meanwhile, South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jong-kwan has asked U.S. authorities to ease tariffs on equipment and materials that South Korean companies need to import to build the plant, citing difficulties in purchasing some equipment locally.
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