Seoul, South Korea — South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI unveiled a plan on Tuesday to build a $3 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the United States in a joint venture with General Motors.
The plan was announced while South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is on a six-day state visit to the United States, seeking to forge stronger security and business ties between the two long-time allies.
The location of the facility has not yet been determined but it is expected to be in full gear and ready to start mass production in 2026, the South Korean firm said in a statement.
It was expected to create thousands of jobs and the new factory would be equipped with “an annual production capacity of more than 30 gigawatts-hour”, Samsung said.
It said the battery cells would be supplied exclusively to General Motors.
The batteries to be produced at the facility would “help GM strengthen its leadership in the EV market”, Samsung SDI CEO Choi Yoon-ho said in the statement.
Samsung SDI already has EV battery plants in Vietnam, China, Hungary and elsewhere.
It is part of the sprawling Samsung group, whose flagship subsidiary Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s biggest chip and smartphone makers.
The joint venture will help GM expand its annual electric vehicle capacity in North America “well beyond 1 million units annually”, said GM CEO Mary Barra.