LG focuses on its ‘ABC’ strategy to future-proof its fortunes

LG chief Koo Kwang-mo wrapped up a four-day visit to the United States and Canada on Thursday, putting a spotlight on biopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence technologies as the conglomerate group’s future growth drivers.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, center, listens to an explanation of the selection process of cells with enhanced anti-cancer functions for producing cell therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston on Monday. [LG CORP.]

LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo wrapped up a four-day visit to the United States and Canada on Thursday, putting a spotlight on biopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence technologies as the conglomerate group’s future growth drivers.

The latest move signifies LG’s shifting focus toward AI, biopharmaceuticals and cleantech — which is referred to as the “ABC” strategy by the company — alongside a bigger emphasis on global expansion.

Koo met with AVEO Pharmaceuticals CEO Michael Bailey as well as Son Jee-woong, head of LG Chem’s life science division, and Lee Dong-soo, president of LG Chem Life Sciences Innovation Center, at the center in Boston on Monday.

The 45-year-old chairman reviewed the current strategies and ongoing projects aimed at developing new drugs and cell therapies during the meeting, according to LG.

In 2019, LG Chem established a research and development (R&D) center named Life Sciences Innovation Center in Boston, where some 2,000 companies and research institutes are based. After the company acquired Boston-based AVEO Pharmaceuticals in January, AVEO moved into LG Chem’s Life Sciences Innovation Center to further bolster cooperation.

AVEO developed Fotivda, a treatment for kidney cancer that acquired approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2021.

LG Chem hopes to become a global “top-tier” pharmaceutical company by 2030.

“LG’s bio business, though still in its infancy, will grow into a giant that represents LG if we continue to strive and challenge ourselves,” said Koo during the meeting, emphasizing that its battery business is also a result of decades-long hard work and preparation.

The LG chief also visited the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the leading research institutes in cancer treatment, and LabCentral, a startup incubator center in Boston.

Koo headed to Toronto on Tuesday to visit LG Electronics’ AI Lab established in 2018. LG Electronics’ AI Lab is currently working with the University of Toronto, a leading player in AI research, on joint industry-academia projects.

“AI technologies are evolving at a steep pace, and the race is getting more heated,” said Koo, stressing that LG will need to “quickly implement the technologies secured so far to LG subsidiaries’ actual business operations and use the lessons learned from such implementations to further sharpen its competitive edge.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]