Hyundai Motor Group and SK On Co plan to spend as much as US$5 billion in North America to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries, as US President Joe Biden’s green bill encourages companies along the EV supply chain to invest in the US.
The South Korean firms would have an equal shareholding in the plant, to be constructed in Bartow County, Georgia. The facility is expected to start producing EV battery cells in the second half of 2025.
The new plant would have an annual production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours of EV battery cells, enough to produce 300,000 all-electric vehicles.
Photo: Bloomberg
The joint venture “further accelerates the group’s electrification efforts and bolsters its position as an EV leader in the US market with a stable battery supply,” Hyundai said in a statement yesterday.
The automaker in November last year signed a memorandum of understanding with SK On to secure battery supply for North America.
Affiliate Hyundai Mobis Co is to assemble battery packs using cells from the planned plant, then supply them to Hyundai Group’s US manufacturing facilities for the production of models including the Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6 and the Genesis GV60.
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act enacts large-scale subsidies for low-carbon industries, particularly through production tax credits. It has encouraged a slew of global automakers and EV battery makers to step up investment plans in the US, where certain electric vehicles would be eligible for up to US$7,500 in credits if they meet requirements that battery components or critical minerals are sourced from North America or US free-trade partners.
Hyundai was among automakers excluded from that US$7,500 credit, as it did not meet a vital requirement of having an operational EV plant in the US. Hyundai is planning to start operating its EV plant in Georgia as early as the end of next year.
The firm’s first-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates, with operating profit increasing 86 percent year-on-year to 3.6 trillion won (US$2.7 billion). Revenue rose 25 percent to 37.8 trillion won, while gross margin was 20.4 percent, Hyundai said yesterday.
“The strong sales mainly stemmed from the improvement of production, as chip and component supplies stabilized worldwide,” Hyundai said.
It added that it sees “persistent external factors, such as expanding inflation and fluctuation of raw material costs and interest rates due to geopolitical issues.”
The company is expanding its market share, particularly in Southeast Asia, with its lineup of electric vehicles and sports utility vehicles, Goldman Sachs Group Inc analyst Kota Yuzawa said.
While Southeast Asia’s auto market “has been dominated by Japanese carmakers historically, a lack of competitive Japanese EV models until 2025 will pose opportunities for Hyundai,” Yuzawa said in a note on April 14.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
RSS