With a giant battery factory in northeast Georgia hanging in the balance of a trade dispute, South Korean company LG Energy Solution is now telling some Georgia officials that it could build its own factory in the state if rival SK Innovation can’t proceed.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports LG Energy Solution CEO Jong Hyun Kim wrote a letter to Democratic U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock on Wednesday saying LG “is prepared to do whatever we can to help the people and workers of Georgia.”
Kim also wrote that if some other entity acquires the SK plant, LG could help run the $2.6 billion electric-vehicle battery plant in Commerce, where SK plans to hire 2,600 workers.
“Multiple investors and manufacturers … will be interested in the Commerce plant due to increased demand for electric-vehicle batteries,” Kim wrote.
On Thursday, LG announced plans to build at least two new plants and spend more than $4.5 billion to make electric-vehicle batteries in the United States, in addition to the plant it’s building in Lordstown, one it already operates in Holland, Michigan, and one it could build in Spring Hill, Tennessee. All those plants are in partnership with General Motors.
LG’s overture comes as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday renewed his call for President Joe Biden to override a federal trade decision that threatens SK’s ability to move ahead.
Biden has 60 days to review or block the ruling.
What the U.S. International Trade Commission ruling essentially does, according to a Valley expert, is eliminate SK Innovation, a South Korean company, as competition of electric-vehicle battery and chemicals maker LG Chem, which has a 50 percent stake in the $2.3 billion Ultium Cells LLC facility in Lordstown.
The trade commission ruled that SK Innovation stole 22 trade secrets from competitor LG Energy Solution, a subsidiary of LG Chem, and that the company should be barred from importing, making or selling batteries in the U.S. for 10 years.
SK has contracts to supply batteries for an electric Ford F-150 truck and an electric Volkswagen SUV to be manufactured in Chattanooga, Tenn. The commission said SK can supply batteries to Ford Motor Co. for four years and to Volkswagen for two years, saying it had tailored its order to avoid disrupting those customers. SK can also repair and replace batteries in Kia vehicles that have already been sold.
The decision potentially opens a door for Ultium Cells, the GM / LG Chem joint venture on Tod Avenue SW.
“In some ways, I think it makes other car companies that are thinking of building hydrids or electric vehicles maybe think more about getting close to the Lordstown facility because it looks like into the future there will be more stability with that plant than with SK Innovations,” Paul Sracic, political science professor at Youngstown State University, said last month.
Ultium Cells is targeted to start production sometime in early 2022. GM foresees the plant being a major player in its plans of an all-electric future.
Guy Coviello, president of the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, said previously, “The success of LG Chem is very important to our community because along with GM, it is making a major investment here so we want that to be successful. If their competitor did something illegal, the U.S. should and obviously did intervene to correct the wrong.”
Biden has 60 days to review or block the ruling.
LG had accused SK of hiring away dozens of employees to steal battery technology and an administrative law judge ruled in LG’s favor last year. The trade commission upheld the ruling.
SK’s “total disregard of our warnings and intellectual property rights gave us no choice but to file this case,” said John Hyun Jim, CEO of LG Energy Solution. “We are grateful to the International Trade Commission for protecting our innovations and significant economic investments in the United States.”
SK Innovation said it has “serious concerns about the commercial and operational implications of this decision for the future of our EV-battery facility in Commerce, Georgia.”
LG left open the possibility that SK could end the dispute by paying to license LG’s technology.
Georgia gave $300 million in free land, cash and other incentives for the SK factory, which is now partially built and is supposed to open in 2022.
news@tribtoday.com
The Link LonkMarch 14, 2021 at 12:34PM
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LG ready to step in for rival in Ga. - Warren Tribune Chronicle
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