South Korea’s No. 1 steelmaker Posco will invest 45 trillion won ($40.5 billion) over the next five years from 2019 in its steel, secondary battery materials and clean energy businesses, creating some 20,000 jobs in the process, the company said Monday.

The plan was the first major investment announcement by the company’s ninth Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, who took office in July.

“To lead the global steel industry and to become a pioneer in the manufacturing industry in the fourth industrial revolution, we need to get a head start in investment and securing outstanding personnel,” Choi said in a statement.

The scale of investment is 2.5 times the 18 trillion won Posco has invested from 2014 to 2018.

In the process, the company is expected to hire some 20,000 regular workers -- 10,000 people in the steel sector, 5,000 people in the materials and energy business, and 5,000 people in infrastructure-related projects -- alongside additional employment for about 120,000 people, the company said.

The number of jobs created is about 190 percent more than the some 7,000 people the company has hired in the past five years.

A total of 26 trillion won will be invested in the company’s most profitable and stronghold steel business for smartification of Gwangyang Blast Furnace No. 3 and expansion of the Giga steel exclusive production facility, on top of construction of an off-gas power plant to maximize energy efficiency at its steel mill.

To put together a system to mass-produce secondary battery materials, 10 trillion won will be injected into the new growth industry to build new factories, such as the construction of cathode material factories here and overseas alongside anode material plants, the company said.

Posco currently oversees the lithium business, while Posco ESM handles the cathode materials business and Posco Chemtech produces secondary battery anode materials.

Nine trillion won will be allocated to strengthening its energy and infrastructure-related businesses, it added

The road map includes building eco-friendly thermal power plants; enlarging liquefied natural gas storage facilities; expansion, front-end engineering and design; and operation and management of its gas field in Myanmar.

In response to the government’s push for the country’s top 10 conglomerates to increase investments and employment, eight conglomerates including Posco have pledged a total of some 398 trillion won.

About half the amount was pledged by tech titan Samsung Electronics last month to invest 180 trillion won and hire 700,000 people in the next three years.

South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group promised to invest 80 trillion won and create jobs for 28,000 people over three years. Hyundai Motor Group pledged 23 trillion won, Hanwha Group 22 trillion won, GS Group 20 trillion won, LG 19 trillion won and Shinsegae 9 trillion won.

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)