U.S. Steel, a subsidiary of Nippon Steel, recently announced that it will restart a blast furnace at its Granite City Works in Illinois due to increased customer demand.

U.S. Steel's Illinois plant has two blast furnaces that had previously been shut down due to reduced steel demand. The restarted furnace is expected to resume operation between April and June 2026.

In addition, the company will add about 400 employees to expand its workforce, bringing the total number of employees to about 1,200.

In June of this year, Nippon Steel officially completed its acquisition of U.S. Steel in a transaction valued at US$14.9 billion. At the same time, Nippon Steel issued one share of "golden share" (a type of stock with veto power) to the US government, granting it veto power over significant operational matters. However, U.S. Steel clarified that the restart of blast furnace production is unrelated to this "golden share."