GM, Samsung SDI Outline $3 Billion Spend on US Battery Plant

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General Motors Co. and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co. plan to spend $3 billion on a new cell plant in the US amid a push by President Joe Biden to encourage domestic investment in return for production tax and EV credits.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 30 GWh and mass production should start in 2026, according to an e-mailed statement from Samsung SDI Tuesday. The company didn’t disclose the facility’s exact location.

The new plant will produce prismatic-type, high-nickel batteries as well as cylindrical cells, both for GM’s new EVs, according to the statement.

“We are glad to start the long-term strategic cooperation with GM to lead the EV market,” Samsung SDI Chief Executive Officer Choi Yoon-ho said.

Automakers and EV battery makers alike are increasingly rushing to make investments in North America in order to receive tax credits provided by Biden’s landmark climate change bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. Carmakers are also seeking to diversify their supply of EV batteries, a market that’s dominated by China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.

GM, a longtime partner with LG Energy Solution Ltd., selected Samsung SDI after canceling plans for a fourth plant with LG. Ford Motor Co., which has historically partnered with SK On Co., added LG to its suppliers for a new plant it’s got underway in Turkey.

“Having multiple strong cell partnerships — one with LG Energy Solution and one with Samsung SDI — will enable us to grow our annual EV assembly capacity in North America significantly above 1 million units,” Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday in a letter to shareholders.

Samsung SDI is also planning to build a battery plant with Stellantis NV in Kokomo, Indiana, under which the parties will jointly invest $2.5 billion. It signed a $33 billion contract in January with Posco Future M Co. to secure cathode active materials, the most expensive component of EV battery, through 2032.

Samsung SDI has now secured almost 80% of all the raw materials needed for any production it’s planning until 2025 and may sign new partnerships with European automakers like BMW Co., another longtime customer, according to a note earlier this month from Hanwha Investment & Securities Co. analyst Yongwook Lee.

On Tuesday, Hyundai Motor Co. also unveiled a plan to spend as much as $5 billion with SK On to build a plant in Bartow county, Georgia. That new plant should have an annual production capacity of 35 GWh of EV battery cells with mass production starting in 2025, the companies said.

(Updates with statement from GM CEO in seventh paragraph.)

–With assistance from Chester Dawson.