South Korean battery maker plans $1.7B Georgia factory

Dive Brief:

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced this week that South Korean company SK Innovation will invest $1.67 billion into a 2-million-square-foot lithium-ion battery factory in Jackson County, Georgia.
Construction is expected to be completed in two 1 million-square-foot phases, beginning in 2019 and wrapping up in 2022, according to the Times Free Press. The factory will eventually employ a total of 2,000 workers. SK supplies batteries for customers such as Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai-Kia Motors, both of which have assembly plants in nearby Alabama.
Deal’s announcement did not include any information about what financial incentives, if any, Georgia has offered SK, but did mention that Deal and governor-elect Brian Kemp would “work closely with the company as it creates the largest single investment and job-creating project announced in the state’s history.” Pat Wilson, Georgia Department of Economic Development commissioner, said, “Georgia works in aggressive ways to ensure companies like SK Innovation have the best resources necessary for them to find success."

Dive Insight:

States are often willing to give manufacturers breaks on property, sales and other taxes and even help with infrastructure for their facilities in order to win big construction projects and generate the temporary and permanent jobs that go along with them.

Earlier this month, Toyota and Mazda broke ground on a $1.6 billion joint production facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The automakers will receive $700 million between state and local agencies in the form of ad valorem tax abatement, breaks on local property taxes, investment and job tax credits and help with infrastructure. Toyota and Mazda will, however, contribute $750 million toward local STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and career/technical programs.

Also this month, Chinese company Wanhua Chemical Group and the state of Louisiana announced plans for the construction of a $1.25 billion MDI manufacturing plant in Convent, St. James Parish, Louisiana. In exchange for the company’s investment and the accompanying job creation during the facility’s construction and operations, the state will give Wanhua access to Louisiana's workforce training program and tax exemptions, as well as a $4.3 million grant that will go toward infrastructure costs.

In another manufacturing plant deal, Louisiana is expected contribute $12 million of various incentives and breaks to Taiwanese company Formosa Petrochemical Corp. in return for its investment in a $9.4 billion plant, also in St. James Parish. During peak construction activity, Formosa Construction expects there will be approximately 8,000 workers on site.