LS Group plans to expand into the power infrastructure, smart energy and digital transformation sectors in the global market, the firm said Monday.

Chairman Koo Ja-yeol, in his New Year’s address this year, urged the company to “thoroughly localize the organization and manpower of its global business and increase their operational efficiency.”

To this end, LS plans to establish a group-level regional strategy centered on areas with high growth potential, such as China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It will also strengthen support to create synergy among the affiliates that have entered the regions, the company said.

Major LS affiliates are also stepping up efforts to commercialize eco-friendly, energy-efficient technologies such as superconducting cables, microgrids and high-voltage direct current -- all business areas now dominated by global companies.

LS Cable & System is actively investing in the US, Poland, Vietnam and Myanmar to strengthen its global competitiveness based on its world-leading technology in the production of ultrahigh-pressure, submarine and superconducting cables, seeking growth through overseas expansion.

LS Electric is stepping up its next-generation microgrid business to make small communities and regions self-sufficient in terms of power by using smart convergence solutions that apply information and communication technology.

LS-Nikko Copper produces 642,000 tons of electrolytic copper per year with a purity of 99.99 percent, the world’s second-largest amount from a single smelter. It is making innovations by analyzing big data generated from the smelting process in response to the trend of the “fourth industrial revolution” and establishing a smart factory that optimizes smelting efficiency. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)