POSCO Advances Automation With Yaskawa Industrial Robots Deal

POSCO Holdings Inc. PKX has strengthened its partnership with Japan’s Yaskawa Electric, a global leader in industrial robotics, to accelerate the adoption of advanced automation across its worldwide mobility-parts operations. 

POSCO Mobility Solutions and Yaskawa, together with POSCO DX, the group’s IT services subsidiary, signed a three-way agreement on Jan. 14 at POSCO Mobility Solutions’ Cheonan site. Through this collaboration, the three firms will introduce integrated robotic systems to support the production of drive motor cores, a crucial EV and hybrid vehicle component that converts battery energy into mechanical rotation, turning the wheels. The automation rollout will cover POSCO Mobility Solutions’ plants in Cheonan and Pohang, as well as its international facilities in Poland, Mexico and India.

The planned robot systems will automate material movement to measurement equipment and conduct real-time quality-based sorting, which is expected to improve safety, reduce manual workload and boost production speed. POSCO DX will oversee system design and integration to ensure seamless compatibility with existing production lines, while Yaskawa will supply high-precision robots and provide technical support. 

This initiative builds on successful pilot applications completed at the Pohang facility in the previous year and aligns with POSCO’s long-term strategy to expand robotics, automation and AI-driven manufacturing capabilities across its steel, battery and industrial businesses. The partnership also supports the group’s objective of advancing physical AI and accelerating its transition toward next-generation intelligent factories.

Shares of PKX are up 22.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s 48.7% rise.

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PKX Zacks Rank & Key Picks

PKX currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Commercial Metals Company (CMC), Ternium S.A. (TX), and Companhia Siderugica Nacional (SID). CMC and TX carry a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while SID has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMC’s current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at $7.46 per share, indicating a 138.34% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters while missing twice, with an average negative surprise of 1.64%. Shares of CMC have jumped 47.1% over the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TX’s current fiscal-year earnings stands at $3 per share, implying a 86.34 % year-over-year increase. Shares of TX have gained 44.1% over the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SID’s current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at 13 cents per share, indicating a 136.11% year-over-year increase. Shares of SID have soared 27.8% over the past year.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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