South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO said Sunday it will invest 300 billion won (US$260.9 million) in the anode materials business by 2020 as part of its plan to diversify its portfolio.
The company said it will make such investment into its anode materials manufacturing unit of POSCO ESM in the next three years.
Anode materials are core substances for rechargeable batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, used for smartphones and laptop computers.
POSCO ESM started to produce high-capacity anode materials for electric vehicle batteries last month, which are supplied to LG Chem, one of the world's leading battery makers.
The massive investment came as POSCO's long-term plan calls for the strengthening of its non-steel businesses.
Earlier, the company completed a lithium extraction plant, which began commercial production of high-purity lithium on Tuesday.