ATLANTA (AP) – With a giant battery factory in North Georgia hanging in the balance of a trade dispute, South Korean company LG Energy Solution is now telling some officials in Georgia that it can have its own factory in the state build if competitor SK Innovation can do it. t continue.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Young Hyun Kim, CEO of LG Energy Solution, wrote a letter to Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock on Wednesday, saying LG is “willing to do anything in our power to help the people and workers of Georgia.”
Kim also wrote that LG, if another entity acquires the SK plant, could help trade the $ 2.6 billion battery plant, where SK plans to hire 2,600 workers.
“Several investors and manufacturers … will be interested in the trading facility due to the greater demand for electric vehicle batteries,” Kim wrote.
LG on Thursday planned to build at least two new plants and spend more than $ 4.5 billion to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in the United States, in addition to a factory it already operates in Holland, Michigan, and built one in Lordstown, Ohio, and one who can build it in Spring Hill, Tennessee. All the plants are in partnership with General Motors.
LG’s revelation comes as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday renewed his call on President Joe Biden to replace a federal trade decision that would undermine SK’s ability to continue.
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in February that SK had stolen 22 trade secrets from LG and that SK could be banned from importing, manufacturing or selling batteries in the United States 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, Tennessee. According to the commission, SK can supply batteries to Ford Motor Co for four years and to Volkswagen for two years. SK can also repair and replace batteries in Kia vehicles that have already been sold.
A spokesman for SK said in an email: “It is simply impossible for anyone to purchase and use an EV battery manufacturing facility to manufacture batteries that are acceptable to a large automotive company.”
“LG’s monopolization of the US battery supply chain will only further the US back in its attempt to overtake China,” the spokesman wrote.
Biden has until April to review or block the ruling, and both parties are campaigning for a game of chess that also involves talks between the companies. SK lost the decision in part because it destroyed evidence. The commission calls the move “extraordinary” and concludes that the top executives of SK are ordering the destruction.
SK said this week that its directors had rejected LG’s claims for compensation. LG said it was ‘regrettable’ that SK was unwilling to negotiate and said LG would accept cash, royalties on future battery sales or a stake in SK’s business.
Georgia has provided $ 300 million in free land, cash and other incentives for the SK plant, which has now been partially built and is scheduled to open in 2022.