David Rosenberg, Secretary of Commerce for the State of Indiana, USA, is visiting South Korea. He will meet with Samsung SDI, the largest Korean investor in the state, to discuss potential collaborations in the battery business and review major issues. He is also expected to meet with SoulBrain and Jaewon Industries, both battery material companies, to emphasize the significant role Korean companies play in the local economic development.
According to the Indiana Department of Commerce on the 4th, the delegation led by Secretary Rosenberg will visit Korea for a five-day trip, returning on the 8th. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the IEDC Seoul Office Business Development Team will accompany the delegation.
Secretary Rosenberg and his party have prioritized a visit to the Samsung SDI business site. They plan to meet with senior executives, including CEO Choi Yoon Ho, to express gratitude for the company’s investments and job creation efforts in Indiana and to discuss future support measures.
Samsung SDI is building two battery joint factories in Kokomo, Indiana, and Stellantis, with a total investment of $6.3 billion. The first factory, originally scheduled to start operations early next year with a capacity of 33GWh, will begin operations early, and the second factory, with a capacity of 34GWh, will start operations in 2027, which are expected to create 2,800 jobs.
A joint factory with General Motors (GM) is also coming to Indiana. Samsung SDI is investing approximately $3 billion in New Carlisle in St. Joseph County with GM. They will build a joint factory with a production capacity of more than 30GWh and employ 1,700 people.
Given the leading role that successive investments have played in Indiana’s electric vehicle battery industry, Secretary Rosenberg is expected to strengthen the cooperative relationship with Samsung SDI through this meeting.
Secretary Rosenberg will also meet with SoulBrain and Jaewon Industries, partners of Samsung SDI, to discuss the overall construction of the battery ecosystem.
SoulBrain, for example, is investing $75 million in Kokomo to build a high-purity electrolyte production facility for lithium-ion batteries. They plan to increase production from an initial 50,000 tons to 150,000 tons and supply to the joint factories of Samsung SDI and Stellantis.
Jaewon Industries also pushed for the establishment of a conductive slurry dispersion facility and a waste anode binder solvent (NMP) recycling plant. Last year, they secured a site of 32 acres (approximately 129,499 square meters). They plan to invest $102 million in two stages and hire about 100 locals.
The “InterBattery 2024,” South Korea’s largest battery industry exhibition, is also of interest to Secretary Rosenberg. InterBattery is an event where you can check the latest battery technologies and information at a glance, and it will be held at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, for three days from the 6th. 579 battery companies from 18 countries around the world will participate, and about 7,500 people will visit.
Indiana has been invited to the “Electric Vehicle Forum 2024,” which will be held by the US Embassy in Korea and the Korea Battery Industry Association during the event. Secretary Rosenberg and his party plan to promote the strengths of Indiana’s battery industry as an investment destination. They will also visit the US Embassy in Korea to explore ways to develop the relationship between Indiana and Korea.
Secretary Rosenberg said, “Thanks to our Korean partners, we have attracted more than $14 billion in investment since 2022,” and added, “The showcase at InterBattery 2024 is an opportunity to highlight the business benefits of Indiana and its skilled talent pipeline.”
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