Posco Air Solution becomes first in Asia to earn aerospace and defense quality management certification

Posco Air Solution, Posco Group's industrial gas specialist, announced Friday it has become the first company in Asia to receive the AS9100D aerospace and defense quality management system certification from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), one of the world's leading certification bodies, in the field of high-purity rare gas manufacturing for aerospace and defense applications.

LRQA presented the certification at a ceremony Thursday at Posco Center in Seoul, attended by Posco Air Solution CEO Kim Dae-yeon and LRQA Korea CEO Lee Il-hyeong, among others.

AS9100D is a global standard built on the ISO 9001 quality management framework, incorporating the stringent and specialized requirements of the aerospace and defense industries. Because even minor quality deviations can have catastrophic consequences in those sectors, the standard demands an advanced quality assurance system covering product safety, process consistency, full traceability and risk management — making it an essential gateway for companies seeking to enter the rare gas manufacturing market for aerospace and defense use.

The certification is particularly significant as it marks the first time a company in Asia has achieved AS9100D status in rare gas manufacturing, and represents a successful domestication of rare gas production for the aerospace industry. With the certification, Posco Air Solution plans to expand beyond its existing semiconductor- and display-focused rare gas business into the aerospace and defense sectors, establishing a stable supply base for high-purity xenon, krypton and other rare gases essential for launch propulsion systems, and positioning itself as a specialized producer of rare gas resources for future industries.

In June, the company completed construction of a high-purity rare gas production factory with an annual capacity of 130,000 normal cubic meters (Nm³) at the Dongho-an site of Gwangyang Steelworks — the first facility in South Korea to build a full value chain for four types of rare gases, from raw material procurement through finished product. More recently, Posco Air Solution demonstrated performance equivalent to imported xenon and krypton gases in a propellant technology development test for electric thrusters used in satellites and space probes, conducted by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), confirming that its products meet global quality standards for aerospace applications.

"This AS9100D certification proves that our high-purity rare gas manufacturing capabilities and quality management system are at the highest level globally," CEO Kim said. "We will establish ourselves as a trusted core supplier in the aerospace and defense rare gas market, backed by the superior quality our global customers demand." He added that the company would "stably supply high-quality rare gases and serve as a key pillar of Posco Group's strategic resource portfolio."

Posco Group announced in July a restructuring of its business portfolio around resources, unveiling a vision to become a "national representative core resource supplier" through a "triple core" framework encompassing industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (lithium, rare earth elements, rare gases and others) and energy resources (LNG and others).

Meanwhile, Posco Holdings posted second-quarter consolidated sales of 19.26 trillion won ($13.5 billion) and operating profit of 819 billion won, buoyed by its core steel business along with strong performance in lithium and LNG. Sales rose 9.7 percent and operating profit climbed 34.9 percent from the same period last year. Net profit for the period jumped 808.0 percent year-on-year to 761 billion won.