The two companies agreed in October to form a joint venture to build what would be the first US battery cell plant for the South Korean battery maker….reports Asian Lite News
South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI said on Wednesday it is investing $1.29 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant to be built in the Indiana state in the US under a joint venture with Stellantis NV.
Samsung SDI will own a 51 per cent stake in the $2.5 billion joint venture company set up with the Chrysler parent, and its investment could increase to as much as $1.57 billion in the long term, it said in a regulatory filing.
Samsung SDI and Stellantis may boost their investment in the project to as much as $3.1 billion, the South Korean company said, reports Yonhap news agency.
The two companies signed a binding agreement in Kokomo, Indiana, on Tuesday (U.S. time) to establish the manufacturing facility in the Midwestern state by 2025, Samsung SDI said in a statement.
The construction will start later this year, with the production operations expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
The plant will supply lithium ion battery cells and modules for electric vehicles produced at Stellantis’ assembly lines in North America.
It initially aims to have an annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh) and plans to increase to 33 GWh in the coming years.
Samsung SDI will apply its latest premium technology, launched under the brand name of PRiMX, to produce EV battery cells and modules, it said.
The two companies agreed in October to form a joint venture to build what would be the first US battery cell plant for the South Korean battery maker.
Samsung SDI has foreign operations in China, Hungary, Malaysia and Vietnam, and runs a battery pack assembly line in Michigan.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it will invest 450 trillion won ($355 billion) in semiconductor and biopharmaceuticals for the next five years, as South Korea’s largest company seeks to further expand its business in future growth areas.
The company said it will spend 360 trillion won, or 80 per cent of the investment, for research and development, and talent nurturing in South Korea, especially in advanced chipmaking.
Samsung Electronics and Samsung Biologics will lead the investment in their respective business areas, it said.
The planned investment is up 120 trillion won from the total 330 trillion won Samsung invested over the past five years, reports Yonhap news agency.
Samsung named semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence and next-generation communication technologies as the tech giant’s future growth drivers.
Samsung said it will continue to aggressively invest in the semiconductor industry that has faced a chronic chip shortage over the past few years, and find new markets for further growth.
In particular, Samsung said it will work to cement its leading position in the global memory chip market and try, at the same time, to improve its contract chip manufacturing business that lags far behind TSMC.
Samsung also expected the investment to nurture a fabless ecosystem in South Korea, which in turn will drive growth in electric cars, smart factories, robotics and smart home appliances.
The promised investment will be partly used for securing advanced chipmaking machines from, for example, ASML Holding N.V., the world’s leading photolithography equipment maker, and for creating 80,000 new jobs until 2026 in the chip and bio industries.
The investment announcement came four days after the South Korean tech giant received immense media attention in and out of the country, as U.S. President Joe Biden chose Samsung’s chip factory as his first stop on his inaugural trip to Asia.
