LG-GM TO BUILD BATTERY MANUFACTURING PLANT

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At a video conference on semiconductors held at the White House recently, President Joe Biden spoke about his plan to make extensive investments in battery cells. General Motors, which attended this meeting, reportedly will build a second joint battery plant in the United States with LG of Korea.

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General Motors, the largest carmaker in the U.S., is building a 2.7-billion-dollar battery manufacturing plant in Ohio jointly with LG Chem of Korea. The plant is expected to begin operations some time next year. Reuters reported that GM and LG Chem plan a second battery cell manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee and the official announcement is to be made on April 16th. The new plant will be about the same size as the 2.3-billion-dollar factory under construction in Ohio. The plant will make battery cells for GM’s electric vehicle, the Cadillac Lyriq. GM recently announced its plan to invest 27 billion dollars in electric and autonomous vehicles development and to stop selling internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. LG Chem also presented its plan to invest more than 5 trillion won in the U.S. battery cell business. The plan to build a second joint battery plant is in line with what was discussed at the April 12th White House meeting about the shortage of semiconductors. U.S. President Joe Biden said at this meeting that he would make aggressive investments in battery cells as well as in semiconductors to create jobs for Americans.

[Soundbite] Joe Biden(U.S. President(Apr. 12))

Business analysts believe that the White House was prompted to encourage battery investment in the wake of LG Energy Solution receiving two trillion won in settlement money from SK Innovation in a battery patent dispute.