ATLANTA (AP) – With a giant battery factory in northeast Georgia on the balance of a trade dispute, South Korean company LG Energy Solution is now telling some Georgian officials that it could build its own factory in the state as rival SK Innovation it can continue.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution LG Energy Solution CEO Jong Hyun Kim reported on Wednesday a letter to Democratic US Senator Raphael Warnock on Wednesday stating that LG “is willing to do everything we can to help the people and workers of Georgia.”
Kim also wrote that if another 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 employees.
“Multiple investors and manufacturers… will be interested in the Commerce plant because of the increased demand for electric vehicle batteries,” Kim wrote.
On Thursday, LG announced plans to build at least two new factories and spend more than $ 4.5 billion to make electric vehicle batteries in the United States, in addition to a facility it is already building a facility in Holland, Michigan. in Lordstown, Ohio, and one that could build it in Spring Hill, TennesseeAll those factories are in partnership with General Motors.
LG’s overture comes when Republican Governor Brian Kemp renewed his call to President Joe Biden on Friday to override a federal trade decision that threatens SK’s ability to move forward.
The US International Trade Commission ruled in February that SK had stolen 22 trade secrets from LG and that SK should be banned from importing, making or selling batteries in the United States for 10 years.
SK has contracts to supply batteries for a Ford F-150 electric truck and an electric Volkswagen SUV to be produced in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The committee said 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 already sold Kia vehicles.
A spokesperson for SK said in an emailed statement that “it is simply impossible for anyone to buy an EV battery manufacturing facility and use it to produce batteries acceptable to a major car company.”
LG’s monopolization of the US battery supply chain will only push the US back further in its attempt to overtake China, the spokesman wrote.
Biden has until April to review or block the ruling and both sides are lobbying him, part of a chess game that also includes talks between the companies. SK partially lost the verdict because it destroyed evidence. The committee called the move “extraordinary” and concluded that top SK officials had ordered the destruction.
SK said this week that the 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 an ownership stake in SK’s business.
Georgia gave $ 300 million in free land, cash and other incentives for the SK plant, which is now partially built and is expected to open in 2022.