South Korea-based Hyundai Steel and POSCO have broken ground on their $5.8 billion low-carbon steel mill in Louisiana, marking the start of a project designed to establish a localized automotive steel supply chain in North America, according to media reports. The plant is scheduled to start mass production in early 2029.
The Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana Steel (HPLS) facility, located in Donaldsonville, will have an annual production capacity of 2.7 million mt of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel. Of the total output, around 1.8 million mt will be automotive steel, while the remaining 900,000 mt will be intended for general applications.
Plant to cut carbon emissions by around 70 percent
The integrated plant will combine direct reduced iron (DRI) and electric arc furnace (EAF) technologies, which Hyundai Steel expects to reduce carbon emissions by around 70 percent compared with conventional blast furnace-based steel production. The company said the facility will be the first EAF-based mill in the US dedicated to automotive steel sheet production.
The steel produced at the facility will initially support Hyundai Motor and Kia's manufacturing operations as well as other automakers in the southern US and Mexico. Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Euisun Chung said the company also sees future demand for the plant's low-carbon steel from humanoid robots, AI data centers, power generation facilities and aerospace applications.
The investment forms part of Hyundai Motor Group's broader $26 billion US investment plan through 2028. The Louisiana facility is also expected to create approximately 1,300 jobs.
Meanwhile, South Korean industry minister Kim Jung-kwan has asked the US authorities to ease tariffs on equipment and materials that South Korean companies need to import for construction of the plant, citing difficulties in sourcing some equipment locally.
